LEXINGTON, KY – Dependable might not be the word that immediately comes to mind to describe Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel), such was the rollercoaster nature of his season back home in Europe, but boy did he come through when he was needed most, with the newly-minted GI Breeders' Cup Turf champion saving the visiting party from a washout at Keeneland on Saturday.If there was any danger of complacency setting in for us Europhiles after Friday's clean sweep of the three turf races, then it didn't take long for reality to bite, with defeats for leading fancies such as Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett), Blue Bolt (Blue Point) and Notable Speech (Dubawi) soon ensuring that the Turf was the last chance of saving face.This one had to be ours, didn't it? After all, 10 of the 14 runners going to post for the $5-million heat represented European-based trainers, including one or two, at least, who came into the race arguably with stronger form credentials than the conundrum that was Benvenuto Cellini.The Irish Derby victory and the third-place finish in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes had shown what this flashy chestnut can do when on song. Interspersed with those days of plenty, however, were afternoons such as that bizarre one at Epsom, where he recorded a mid-division finish when sent off favourite for the Derby, before subsequently being declared a non-runner due to him getting his foot caught in the stalls.More recently, a ninth-place finish behind Daryz in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe didn't exactly scream, 'Here's your Breeders' Cup Turf winner.' At least not for us mere mortals, anyway.Ryan Moore, on the other hand, the closest thing to a superhero that you'll ever see in the saddle, kept the faith, maintaining the partnership with Benvenuto Cellini here when many of us would have considered Arc third Diamond Necklace (St Mark's Basilica), already a three-time Group 1 winner in 2026, the percentage call.Aidan O'Brien, too, when speaking earlier this week, implored us all to go back and watch a rerun of the Arc in order to recognise that Benvenuto Cellini had performed rather better than the bare result might suggest, actually doing very well indeed to be beaten a little over four lengths in unfavourable circumstances.And what do you know? The winningmost trainer in the history of the Breeders' Cup might actually know what he's talking about, not to mention Benvenuto Cellini's rider, the very definition of dependable and at his most clinical once more in delivering his mount to victory by three-quarters-of-a-length from Map Of Stars (Sea The Stars), the headline acts as the Euros got their act together to fill the first seven places.“He was a little slowly away [in the Arc] but came home strong and was only beaten two and a half lengths by the filly [Diamond Necklace],” O'Brien reiterated after watching Benvenuto Cellini become his record-extending 24th Breeders' Cup winner and his 28th of the calendar year worldwide, equalling the record he himself set in 2017.“Ryan was calm and relaxed on him and let it happen. He was brilliant on him and had to come out and come round. Time after time, he produces on the day. He accepted it early and them go, but he had one bullet to fire which he executed perfectly.”Hong Kong and an opportunity for O'Brien to surpass his remarkable top-level haul could now beckon for Benvenuto Cellini. The son of Frankel is also set to stay in training in 2027 but, for Peter Brant, representing the Coolmore partners, there was no need to look beyond this fine Keeneland afternoon when his homebred finally delivered on his immense promise.“Aidan has been telling me this is a Breeders' Cup horse for quite a long time,” said Brant, whose familiar double green silks were also carried to victory by Haffner (Justify) in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.“The mare [Newspaperofrecord] was a Breeders' Cup winner at a mile [in the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf] and we've been fortunate to keep breeding from her. At the sixteenth pole, he had no chance, but all of a sudden there was this big burst of speed and boom!”He added, “I'm lost for words. I just am so proud. I bred this horse with Coolmore and we have such great partners here.”Those partners also have plenty to look forward to next season with Diamond Necklace, who ran huge yet again to be third under Christophe Soumillon, while Tiffany (Farhh) was fourth, Survie (Churchill) was fifth and Bay City Roller (New Bay) was sixth in a bunched finish for the minor honours with no obvious hard-luck stories.The same could not be said of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, however, where defending champion Notable Speech didn't have the fairytale ending to his career that many of us had been hoping for. Beaten just three-quarters-of-a-length into second at the line, the seven-time Group/Grade 1 winner was making up ground hand over fist in the final furlong, but simply had too much to do to reel in old rival Deterministic (Liam's Map).“I could see after about 100 yards that he didn't break well,” said trainer Charlie Appleby. “From there onwards it was all going to be hard work because the speed was down the inside and we didn't get the position we would have liked.“It's frustrating that he came home as strongly as he did, but he's lost nothing in defeat and everyone knows what a good horse he is. This just happens in racing sometimes. It's his last race and, of course, you wanted to go out on a high, but it didn't happen. Like I've said, he's given us all a lot of fun and took us on many long trips around the world.“The main thing is that he's retired safe and sound. We'll bring another one like him, don't worry.”In the first of the four turf races on Saturday's card, Bacio (Maclean's Music) might technically have been the horse to initiate the derailing of the Europe raiders and their hopes of picking up where they left off on Friday, but his trainer, the self-confessed fish and chip lover that is Wesley Ward, is arguably just as well known for his achievements in Britain as he is on his home patch here at Keeneland, most notably at Royal Ascot where this rapid colt first announced himself back in June.A first top-level success followed on his next transatlantic jaunt to York for August's G1 Nunthorpe Stakes, with the raw speed that characterised both of those successes again in evidence here as he blitzed his way to a two-length defeat of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint heroine Cy Fair (Not This Time).Ralph Beckett's Starlust (Zoustar), the winner of this race was run at Del Mar in 2024, fared best of the European-trained runners in third, narrowly ahead of the G1 July Cup and G1 Flying Five Stakes winner Comanche Brave, who shared a dead heat with Time To Dazzle (Not This Time) for fourth.For Bacio, further international targets could now be on the agenda, with Ward having to trade fish and chips for shrimp on the barbie should his star sprinter make it to the G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington next February.“He's very, very fast. He's won the Breeders' Cup and he's won the Nunthorpe in York, which my others haven't,” said Ward when asked to compare Bacio with his former Royal Ascot winners Lady Aurelia and Golden Pal. “Hopefully, we can conquer something that I never have in one of the biggest sprint races in Australia. We have a big plan to go down in February. I've never been to Australia, but I'm going to bring the whole family down, both my sons, my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my grandson, so I'm really looking forward to that. He's going into quarantine this evening.”He added of how the race developed for Bacio, “I was a little worried about the first quarter of a mile going into the race but, when we got off clean and the 14 horse [Miss Yechance] was right beside Juan [Hernandez, jockey], and some of the other fast ones weren't there, I was feeling really, really good.”Ward also confirmed that Bacio will again return to Britain in 2027, with Billy Loughnane, the rider of Comanche Brave, looking forward to taking the winner on again on a more conventional track.“It was a bit tight for him, while Bacio had experience of the track,” he said. “I would love to take him on in a straight line. We will see the best of him next year.”It remains to be seen whether Blue Bolt, another star of the European Flat season, will be kept in training at Kingsclere as a five-year-old, with Andrew Balding surmising that the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf might have been one race too many after the Juddmonte flagbearer trailed home 11th of the 12 runners.As Kathynmarissa (American Pharoah) led home another one-two for the home team, it was left to Jancis (Tamayuz) and Irish champion jockey-elect Billy Lee to restore some honour for the visitors in running on for third at big odds.“She's run a blinder and wouldn't have been far away if things had worked out for her,” said Willie McCreery, the trainer of Jancis. “She wasn't sharp enough to hold her position early and got shuttled back too far. Billy thought Blue Bolt would take her into the race, but she hasn't.”In truth, Blue Bolt looked to be struggling from a fairly early stage, long before her stamina for the extended nine furlongs had chance to became an issue on her first try beyond a mile.“It's the end of a long season and she has done us proud,” Balding said of the four-time Group 1 winner. She got a bit upset in the gate, which is unlike her, but you never know until you try it when bringing a horse here.”He added, “It would be great to have her for another year, but that's down to the owners to decide.”In another blow for the team at Kingsclere, Balding's rival for the British trainers' championship also struck a potentially terminal blow to his chances when winning the G3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newmarket with Bengal Tiger (No Nay Never).Dependable as ever, 2026 looks like being O'Brien's year.The post Benvenuto Cellini Goes “Boom” to Finally Deliver and Rescue Europe in Breeders’ Cup Turf appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.