The 2023 Breeders’ Cup as staged at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California on November 3 and 4, but one notable absentee from the end-of-season showcase meeting was Hollie Doyle. Having ridden over a hundred winners on British soil for the fifth calendar year running and finished fifth in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship, 13 winners adrift of her husband, Tom Marquand, the ‘Pocket Rocket’ was originally booked to ride Bradsell, trained by Archie Watson, in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Bradsell had secured an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint by virtue of a narrow victory over subsequent Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp winner Highfield Princess in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 20, which was part of the ‘Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In’ program. However, on October 16, Doyle fell foul of the stewards at Kempton Park and was handed a seven-day suspension for careless riding on her mount, Rose Light, trained by Jonathan Portman, in the penultimate fillies’ handicap.
Early in the middle-distance contest, Doyle was adjudged to have allowed Rose Light to drift right when insufficiently clear of Flying Circus, ridden by Neil Callan – who was badly hampered and eventually finished last – and causing a ‘knock on’ effect, which affected three other riders. The suspension, which was due to run from October 30 to November 4, plus November 6, was upheld on appeal and Doyle was denied the opportunity to ride her first Breeders’ Cup winner.
Doyle said that she was ‘naturally disappointed to miss the ride’ but, as events transpired, she did not miss anything. Bradsell worked at Santa Anita Park on November 1, but the following day Watson informed the local stewards that the Tasleet colt had been scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and would not be taking his place in the field.