With Sea the Stars retired the focus shifts, as it often does at this time of year, to the Ballydoyle runners pointing to the Breeders’ Cup. Trainer Aidan O’Brien agreed to talk with us about Rip Van Winkle, one of the horses he is bringing to this year’s World Championships, an event he never misses.

“It’s the championship at the end of the year,” O’Brien said. “The horses meet from all continents. This is were everybody can compare all the horses, all the form lines. It’s probably one of the most, if not the most important of the season.”

At this point, the favorite of the most important race in the most important meet is Rip Van Winkle (shown in the video above at home), who will make his synthetic track debut in the Classic. But ‘Rip’ has had the chance to train on a similar surface at home and O’Brien is unconcerned.

“He has cantered on it and it doesn’t seem to be a problem for him. He’s very adaptable, he handles fast ground very well; usually that kind of horse handles the Polytrack surface.”

Rip Van Winkle’s sire Galileo placed sixth in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Classic on Belmont’s dirt main track, having previously won both the English and Irish Derby. Both the surface and the distance should favor Rip Van Winkle, who has shown a lot of speed.

“I suppose Rip’s best run is the mile. Obviously Goodwood or Ascot, his last two wins were really impressive. He ran well in the English Derby, he ran well in the Eclipse. He has speed, but he doesn’t stop. He has a big heart,” O’Brien said of his top charge.

Like many talented 3-year-olds in Europe, Rip Van Winkle was eclipsed by Sea the Stars both in Epsom where he finished fourth and in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown where he battled hard and forced Sea the Stars to change gears. He conceded a length but kept four over third-placed Conduit, Breeders’ Cup Turf champion in 2008. Since that defeat in July, he was won the Sussex and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

So, what does Rip Van Winkle have which could make him the Classic champion this year? Let’s hear it from the trainer’s mouth.

“He’s very, very powerful horse. Massive strides, great use of himself behind and great use of himself upfront. He’s an extraordinary horse really. He doesn’t take a lot of work, he’s very natural, very straight-forward. A very easy, very clean horse, very clean-winded. He’s a very good mover. He’s honest and he’s tough. Obviously, records show that horses who can handle a strong mile here are able to do well in the mile and quarter in America.”

Like his namesake, this Rip Van Winkle will soon awake to a profound change in his surroundings. Far from the private trainer center of Ballydoyle, the only home he has known, he’ll encounter warmer temperatures. Yet, the change in climate did not keep his stablemate Henry the Navigator from performing in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he finished second to another Euro invader, Raven’s Pass.

O’Brien has seen Zenyatta and is looking forward to the challenge, should her connections chose to run her in the Classic as well.

“She has a very impressive record. I think there are plenty of horses in the race, it’s going to be a very exciting contest. The season has been long for him as well, but we’re happy with him at the moment. Hopefully everything goes well between now and then.”