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Breeders’ Cup countdown: Loughnane to partner Comanche Brave

By Racing TV

Last Updated: Mon 26 Oct 2026

It was a year ago at Del Mar that Donnacha O’Brien joined his illustrious father Aidan and brother Joseph as a Breeders’ Cup winning trainer and now he will return to America seeking more success at the end-of-season world championships with Comanche Brave.

While O’Brien dominance will be expected as standard from the aforementioned family members who will head Stateside with a host of leading claims, 28-year-old Donnacha will be confident of making his presence felt also with his elite sprinter, who crosses the Atlantic with two European Group Ones to his name this term.

O’Brien said: “He’s had a great year, especially with his wins and we love taking horses to the Breeders’ Cup when we have one good enough and he looks like he’s more than worth his place in the line-up so we’re looking forward to it.

“It’s been the plan to go to the Breeders’ Cup since he won at the Curragh (in the Flying Five Stakes) and Billy (Loughnane) is going to ride him.

“We thought about running him in the Prix de l’Abbaye but in the end we decided to go straight to America. Everything has gone to plan, there has been no hold-ups and this has been his main target for a while.”

The Verdict team study Comanche Brave's Curragh sucess

The five-time winner is no stranger to heading off on his travels having acquitted himself well in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia earlier this year before heading to Hong Kong to take on the might of Ka Ying Rising in his Sha Tin backyard.

That encouraging run in the Far East was the catalyst for a sprinting campaign that has seen the once Classic hopeful quickly rise the ranks over the shorter distances to become one of his continent’s best.

Now having watched at close quarters the raiding exploits of Wesley Ward’s Bacio at Royal Ascot and York during the summer season at home, it is the Irish team’s turn to return the favour in an eagerly-awaited clash of two speedsters at the peak of their powers.

O’Brien added: “He’s a straightforward horse who travels well and it will be an interesting race, it looks like Bacio is going to line up and he will be the favourite. He’s a very good sprinter and we’ll have some fun taking him on.

“Fair play to Wesley for what he has achieved with Bacio in the summer. He’s never afraid to travel them and him and his team have done a great job bringing the horse over to Europe and seeing what he did to the five-furlong horses over here was very impressive.

“Now it’s our turn though to go over to his home turf and take him on, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Although unsuccessful at the Breeders’ Cup as a jockey, it was perhaps only a matter of time before O’Brien upheld family honour and made his mark at the American showpiece given late autumn trips to the US have been an annual event since his younger days.

Now with Balantina’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victory of 12 months ago paving the way, the Comanche Brave team will embark on Keeneland eager for more.

“We’ve been going over to the Breeders’ Cup since we were kids and we always have a good time over there in America,” continued O’Brien.

“It’s one of our big targets towards the end of the year and anything we have that we think can be competitive over there, we certainly try to plan towards it.

“It was nice to get the winner last year and I have plenty of owners with horses in the yard who are based in America so it was nice to show we can bring horses over to their big meetings and compete. It’s an important meeting for us and we do focus on it quite a bit.”

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