Europe is ready to lay that US ghost

The native media wisecracked about British jockeyship. It was given further credence by the fact most British connections had chosen to book US jockeys that year, snubbing regular riders for the sake of local knowledge. Those who stayed loyal actually did best, albeit of a bad lot, but it still suggested our boys weren't up to much.

Yes, memories of that crazy night still smart despite Dettori's sweet Breeders' Cup Turf victory on Daylami at Florida's Gulfstream Park last year. Amid the claustrophobic training barns on the track 'backside' where all Cup contenders are housed, it tempers enthusiasm for a European team stronger on paper than two years ago.

Even Sheikh Mohammed's forward-marching Godolphin operation remember, although only native American Tom Albertrani admits to it openly.

"The local people here recall Swain - a race like that will always leave an impression on people's minds," he said. "It was disappointing, naturally, when we were just a short grasp away from winning the Classic. It was exciting to see the horse run so well, but I felt sorry for Frankie because he took so much heat."

It was Albertrani who last year first felt the vibes that Daylami had shrugged off his dismal Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe display and was ready to break the European 0 for 30 duck in Florida - a venue deemed less Euro-friendly than Kentucky, with its close heat, tighter track and the shortest distance from home turn to winning post in all America.

"At Gulfstream, everyone said the European horses wouldn't like the heat, the turns, the short stretch, but we proved that wrong when our horses ran so well," he said. "Having that in your favour helps, but the main thing is the right horse and calibre of its competition." Albertrani points to New York's Belmont Park and Canada's Woodbine as tracks even more suited in their configuration than Churchill Downs to European raiders. It's a big ask for us to translate form achieved on racecourses of undulating, idiosyncratic greenery to America's left-handed, uniformly flat and tight ovals.

But statistics do give us reason to be cheerful. Strike 1998 from the record and the score stands at six wins and five places from a total of 21 individual Cup races staged in three previous Churchill Downs renewals.

Here, French filly Miesque completed a back-to-back double in the Mile with an outstanding four-length triumph over a world-class field in 1988. Three years later, Europe enjoyed its best-ever tally, starting with triumphs in the Sprint for Sheikh Albadou and Turf for another Gallic filly, Miss Alleged.

But it's hard to imagine victory more remarkable than her compatriot Arazi's in the Juvenile that same year. On his dirt-track debut, he scythed through a field of America's best two-year-olds with contemptuous ease. It was the most stunning performance in living memory.

Hard to beat that back here in 1994, but we gave it our best shot. Barathea took the Mile for Newmarket handler Luca Cumani, while there was a French 1-2 in the Turf for Tikkanen and Hatoof.

Ominous echoes of 1998 aside, local word is the turf events are ours for the taking this Saturday. War Chant may pose a problem in the Mile but Sir Michael Stoute's duo, Petrushka and Kalanisi, the latter backed up by French hero Montjeu, are leading concerns in the Filly & Mare Turf and Turf itself.

Clive Brittain - whose pioneering super-filly Pebbles was the first British-trained Cup winner in the 1985 Turf - certainly wouldn't bother to cross the Atlantic if he didn't anticipate returning with first prize. That's despite his triple Group One-winning filly Crimplene facing US 'banker', Riboletta, in the Distaff.

"If your horse isn't going to adapt, you shouldn't be here," he said, simply. "When I was second in the 1986 Kentucky Derby with Bold Arrangement, I said I wouldn't come back until I'd got one that would definitely win. Here I am."