THE Breeders’ Cup was played out to mixed reviews on its first visit to picturesque Del Mar in Southern California. The venue is spectacular and the meeting was doubtless a huge success commercially, but the dirt track has the shortest straight of major venues in the US, and the turf track is arguably too tight for championship racing.

Nevertheless, there were some top-class performances, notably by Classic winner Gun Runner and Sprint winner Roy H, and Europe came away with three winners – maybe one or two less than par, considering the record 34-strong contingent who ran. For the record, the raiders finished 3800015690068912580245670001368079.