Breeders' Cup Mile: Time for an Irish celebration

It's what the Breeders' Cup should be all about, really: the clashing of champions from different continents under circumstancesthat should suit both. What's at stake is more than just money ($3m in the case of the Breeders' Cup Mile) for already wealthy connections. Pretty much every racing fan wants to think of their chosen jurisdiction as the strongest and, although it's near impossible to make an absolute judgement on that issue, gloating rights are usually a fair substitute and the Breeders' Cup is where they tend to be won. This is why the 2012 Breeders' Cup Mile looks so attractive. Everyone knows Frankel has been the best horse around this year, but this is a clash of the best mortal milers on the planet: Wise Dan, currently America's highest-rated performer on Timeform ratings, will take on Excelebration, now Europe's highest-rated horse in training on the same scale, in a clash that looks as close as horseracing will get to the Ryder Cup. Poor old Excelebration. He's spent so much of his career finishing second to Frankel, then had to play second-fiddle to that rival on British Champions Day even though the pair ran in separate races. If that wasn't enough, now Frankel has retired Excelebration's assault on America has been compared to Frankel taking on the US "by proxy". I shouldn't b forgotten that Excelebration i himself one o the best milers o the last 2 years, something he'd b recognised a more widely but for you-know-who. I we were i any doubt before Champions Day, his three-length demolition o