Esteem granted a gentle introduction
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Your support makes all the difference.Mark Of Esteem gave North America its first glimpse of Europe's leading Breeders' Cup contender as he stepped out of his quarters at Woodbine, Toronto yesterday.
The hot favourite for the Mile led the Godolphin quartet out of the quarantine barn on to Canadian soil for a first experience of the turf track. Together with Charnwood Forest, Wall Street and Tamayaz, he stretched his legs on a gentle tour of the mile and a half circuit. John Gosden's Shantou walked round the dirt track, accompanied by local pony Lots Of Dots.
They were the only members of the British team to emerge from their lodgings yesterday following an uneventful eight-hour flight into Toronto the previous evening. Saeed bin Suroor, the Godolphin trainer, said: "They travelled very well. We've checked the horses and there are no problems. On the first day we just wanted to give them a steady canter to get to know the track. Tomorrow they will go faster and on Thursday they could have a blow out on the turf."
Frankie Dettori, who also rides Shantou and probably Tamayaz, is not expected to arrive until later in the week.
Singspiel, the one British challenger with previous experience of Woodbine, will run on Lasix again as he did when easily landing the Canadian International last month.
The Michael Stoute-trained Turf challenger, joint favourite with the American Diplomatic Jet for his event, could find ground conditions almost identical to last time, according to Kevin Bradshaw, his work rider. "It's very similar to before, on the soft side of good on the far side and good on the stands side,'' Bradshaw said.
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