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Euro Breeders' Cup hopefuls spotlighted this weekend British sprinter FLEETING SPIRIT (Ire) (Invincible Spirit) is primed for action in Sunday's Prix de l'Abbaye (Fr-G1) at Longchamp, with a view to stepping out in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on November 7. France's premier sprint race, the Prix de l'Abbaye is one of three Breeders' Cup Challenge races remaining of the 11 allocated in Europe this year and victory will earn the winner a qualifying berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. The other two European races still to come in the Breeders' Cup Challenge are the Diamond S. (Ire-G3) at Dundalk on Friday, with the winner earning a place in the Breeders' Cup Marathon, and the Champion S. (Eng-G1) at Newmarket on October 17, for which the victor is guaranteed a spot in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). Jeremy Noseda trains Fleeting Spirit for The Searchers partnership that includes well-known British owner Andy Stewart, and the filly will be bidding to better her fourth-place finish behind Desert Code (E Dubai) in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Desert Code has finished off-the-board in three of his four 2009 starts, including Wednesday's Morvich H. (G3), but Fleeting Spirit has already enjoyed top-level success this season with a victory over an international field in the July Cup (Eng-G1) at Newmarket, her home track. That triumph was sandwiched between narrow reversals in the King's Stand S. (Eng-G1) at Royal Ascot, when second to Australian powerhouse Scenic Blast (Scenic [Ire]), and the Sprint Cup (Eng-G1) at Haydock. "We'll be aiming Fleeting Spirit at the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint again," said Stewart, speaking from the Caribbean. "I think the six and a half furlongs is well within her scope. I'd sooner it was five and a half or six furlongs but on the Santa Anita surface, I don't think the extra half-furlong will trouble her too much. Jeremy feels the same, as do (jockey) Tom Queally and her work rider, so we will give it a go. "She was beaten at Haydock by Regal Parade (Pivotal) but who knows what might have happened if the ground had been on the faster side. The six furlongs at Haydock came up like a mile and she coped with it." Fleeting Spirit relishes a sound surface, something she was denied at Haydock when the going was good to soft, and Stewart is hoping the filly gets her favored conditions in both France and California. "Fleeting Spirit will run on Sunday; she's favourite for the Prix de l'Abbaye and we just hope there is no rain," he said. "I'm told by Jeremy Noseda that there might be some rain in Paris but that the ground will be on the fast side of good." "I'm absolutely delighted with her this season," Stewart added. "She began well in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot when she was second to Scenic Blast who, at one point, everyone thought would dominate, and we turned him over quite substantially at Newmarket in the July Cup. We are not disappointed with her latest run, given the ground conditions. "We are hoping to be drawn reasonably low for the Prix de l'Abbaye and after Longchamp we'll then focus on the Breeders' Cup, but we're quite relaxed at the moment." Another Breeders' Cup hopeful heading to Longchamp this weekend is Lord and Lady Lloyd-Webber's DAR RE MI (Singspiel [Ire]), who will contest the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) on Sunday. The four-year-old filly won the Pretty Polly S. (Ire-G1) at the Curragh in June, one of the 11 Breeders' Cup Challenge races, to qualify for the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf (G1) on November 6, but her connections are also considering taking on the males in the Turf the following day. Dar Re Mi was controversially disqualified from first place in the Prix Vermeille (Fr-G1) at Longchamp on September 13, having seen off French Oaks (Fr-G1) heroine Stacelita (Monsun). The bay lass had previously beaten this year's Epsom (Eng-G1) and Irish Oaks (Ire-G1) heroine Sariska (Pivotal) in the Yorkshire Oaks (Eng-G1) and had 2008 Epsom Oaks winner Look Here (Hernando [Fr]) back in third when taking the Pretty Polly. Dar Re Mi runs in the pink colors of Lord Lloyd-Webber, better known for his Broadway and West End hits such as "Evita," "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera." "Dar Re Mi is qualified for the Filly & Mare Turf but we will see how things go in the Arc before deciding where she goes -- she could yet run in the Breeders' Cup Turf," Simon Marsh, the Lloyd-Webbers' racing manager, revealed Thursday. "We entered her for the Arc back in May with an autumn campaign in mind and she has delighted us. She has only run four times this season and has finished first in three Group 1s, beating two English Oaks winners and a French Oaks winner, so she really is a great filly and a pleasure to be involved with." Muhannak (Ire) (Chester House) won the Diamond at Dundalk en route to Breeders' Cup Marathon success last year and this season's renewal of the extended 10-furlong contest, staged on Polytrack, sees trainer Joe Murphy hoping one of his stable stars can tread the same path as Ralph Beckett's charge. The County Tipperary handler will saddle NORTHGATE (Mujadil) in Friday's Diamond, with a view to challenging for Breeders' Cup honors in the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon at Santa Anita on November 6. Northgate, fourth to Muhannak at Dundalk 12 months ago, is a regular at the track and warmed up for the Diamond on October 2 with a course and distance victory over the Aidan O'Brien-trained Augustusthestrong (A.P. Indy) on September 25. "Northgate won well last week at the track and is likely to go across to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup Marathon after Friday's race," Murphy said. "He would be ideal for America, he loves the artificial surface, the lights, everything. He has a higher rating on the Polytrack than on grass so Santa Anita would suit him." There are 12 declarations for the Diamond S., with the likely hot favorite trained just a short distance from Murphy's Fethard stable. MASTERCRAFTSMAN (Danehill Dancer), winner of this year's Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) and St James's Palace S. (Eng-G1) at Royal Ascot for O'Brien, is having his prep for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in the Dundalk race.
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