My idea was based partly on the fact that Red Rocks was tiring in the last furlong at Epsom.

I felt that the only reason he was able to win the 2006 Breeders' Cup Turf over a mile and a half was that it was run on lightning fast ground around a track that's just seven furlongs in circumference. Seeing that Red Rocks had lost the other eight times he'd gone beyond a mile and a half I figured he wanted the slightly shorter trips more often available at the top level in America.

More importantly I believed that Red Rocks tends to get outpaced on the long straight stretches of galloping tracks. He needs something to take the advantage away from horses with more pace than him. Namely tight turns, a steep uphill finish or soft ground. Before he ran in the Man O War Stakes at Belmont Park he'd had these things four times at less than 12 furlongs and more than a mile and won all four times.

Sure enough Red Rocks made it five out of five around the ten and a half furlong oval of Belmont Park's Widener Turf Course. In doing so he beat the brilliant dirt horse CURLIN (40) into second place.

Red Rocks was well suited by the unusually fast pace for an American turf race. He outkicked Curlin decisively in the closing stages.

If he were mine I'd have no hesitation in keeping Red Rocks in America in the run up to his bod for a second Breeders' Cup Turf. The opposition on turf is weaker Stateside and the races are more suitable.

As I see it Curlin simply must go back to dirt following this run. He was made to look woefully one-paced in the closing stages. Like many top dirt runners he's a great big beast of a horse that is all about strength rather than acceleration. That's fine on dirt where the final furlong is normally run in 13 seconds or slower. But it wasn't helpful here even though the relatively strong early pace (for an American turf race) caused the runners to back up to run the final furlong in a relatively slow 11.86 seconds. In a more normally run US turf race, where top class horses often run the final furlong in under eleven seconds, Curlin will surely get left for dead.