Slim Shadey (GB)

With multiple victories, including a graded stakes win, on the Santa Anita Park turf course, Slim Shadey could easily be considered a “horse for the course” as he heads toward the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in November at his home track.

The British-bred 4-year-old gelding runs for breeder Phil Cunningham and is trained by British-born Simon Callaghan, who is looking for his second Breeders’ Cup runner. He saddled Dubawi Heights for a sixth-place finish in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1). Slim Shadey came to Callaghan late in 2011 after competing two years in England with little success.

Even though he had won only one race in his native England, Slim Shadey was considered by Callaghan a strong North American racing prospect as a horse who had run in several top European stakes races, including the English Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) and the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1). Though he showed little in his U.S. debut, the son of Val Royal, winner of the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Mile, reeled off two victories and three seconds in his next five races to validate Callaghan’s belief in him.