To watch Ed DeRosa's interview with Presious Passion trainer Mary Hartmann, click here .

by Ed DeRosa

If one were to make a movie about Presious Passion winning this year’s Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), the “Benny Hill” theme would surely be prominent on the soundtrack.

If trainer Mary Hartmann has her way, the six-year-old Royal Anthem gelding will be alone on the lead throughout the 1 1/2-mile event with a strong European contingent giving futile chase. All that would be missing is the chase music.

“I’d like to see him up by a few lengths,” said Hartmann, who trains the multiple Grade 1 winner for Patricia Generazio. “He’s been a lot of fun to train and watch run.”

Some European stables are not shy about entering a “rabbit” to ensure an honest pace in their turf events, but it is rare that such a determined front-runner wins Group 1 races.

In last year’s Turf, Red Rock Canyon (Ire) ran an opening quarter in :24.28, a half-mile in :47.06, six furlongs in 1:10.20, and one mile in 1:33.86 before fading to sixth. Conduit (Ire) closed from eighth to win and ran the final quarter-mile of the 1 1/2-mile race in :23.55 to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

In this year’s Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship Stakes (G1), Presious Passion ran an opening half mile in :47.55 and a mile in 1:35.46 with a final quarter in :23.67 to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He will need to dole out his speed an extra quarter-mile on Saturday, something he was able to do to win the William L. McKnight Handicap (G2) at the Turf distance in December.

“We originally tried to teach him to run like a turf horse and come from off the pace, but the first time he won gate-to-wire, we knew that was his style,” Hartmann said. “We worked him a mile [on October 25 at Santa Anita], and we’ve given him some steady gallops. He loves to train, and he loves to go out there and run.”

Conduit is back for a repeat bid and joining him is stablemate Spanish Moon, who comes to Southern California off consecutive victories in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1) and Qatar Prix Foy (Fr-G2) for trainer Sir Michael Stoute. A Juddmonte Farms’ homebred, the five-year-old El Prado (Ire) horse races closer to the pace and could have first run on Presious Passion with Conduit coming from farther back.

“I don’t know anything about pace yet,” Stoute said. “I have some homework to do.”

The Turf’s other big star is Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s four-year-old Singspiel (Ire) filly Dar Re Mi (GB), who won the Audi Pretty Polly Stakes (Ire-G1) earlier this year while leading at every call. Her last three races have all come at 1 1/2 miles, and she raced in midpack.

For complete Thoroughbred Times coverage of the Breeders' Cup Turf, click here.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times