It has been a year to remember for Ibrahim Araci with Libertango (No Nay Never) and Glacius (Too Darn) flying the flag on the international stage for the Turkish-born owner-breeder – and the latter will bid to keep the party going when doing battle in Friday's $1.5 million Bahrain Trophy. Trained by Hugo Palmer, Glacius has rightly earned a reputation for being a top-notch globetrotting star for Araci following his G1 Saratoga Derby success. Connections decided to forgo joining Breeders' Cup heroine Libertango at Keeneland in favour of lining out for the big-race riches on offer in Bahrain, and Araci's racing manager Rob Speers reports the homebred son of Too Darn Hot to be heading into the 10f contest in the form of his life. “Glacius loves fast ground and he travels,” Speers explained. “He actually put on weight and looked fantastic in Saratoga the first time we travelled him. The same when he went to Nashville – he really thrives in those warmer conditions. He loves fast ground, and he eats every nut and drinks when he travels. Horses that do that, and give themselves a chance when they get abroad, are exciting horses to have.”He added, “After the Saratoga Derby, we made a plan that Bahrain would be the race we targeted him at, via the Nashville Derby. Mainly because we thought, with it being such a dry summer, at some point the ground would go here and that options in Europe wouldn't be suitable, because he must have fast ground – he needs to hear his hooves rattle. As it turned out, the ground actually stayed pretty quick right through until into October. But once we made the plan, we decided to stick with it, and he'll go to Bahrain in great order.”Win, lose or draw in Bahrain, Glacius will be kept in training in 2027 alongside star filly Libertango, who will be given a 1,000 Guineas preparation by trainer George Boughey. Purchased for 400,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven breeze-up sale by Speers, Libertango has been a revelation this season and, if it weren't for a certain Sun Goddess, would be a shoo-in to be leading two-year-old filly in Europe. Reflecting on Libertango, whose brilliant campaign culminated with a no-nonsense victory under Billy Loughnane in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, Speers said, “She has been an absolute superstar. She's rated 115, has won the Albany, the Lowther and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Nine years out of ten, her rating and winning those races would make her the Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Unfortunately, Sun Goddess – who Aidan O'Brien hasn't missed with – has probably achieved more on the track than we have.“Even though we beat her nicely at Ascot, and maybe if things had been different in the Cheveley Park, we'd have been able to serve it up to her. Both Libertango and Sun Goddess lowered the track record that day. That shows the level of ability Libertango has. It's one-all between her and Sun Goddess, and hopefully we get a chance to meet again.”He added, “Regarding the Breeders' Cup, it was a wonderful trip. It's the type of meeting you just hope you have a horse good enough to go to. It's one of those international pinnacle meetings, and particularly for Mr Araci, who is an international owner, it's really special to go there with a runner – and particularly one with a chance. I'll be honest, from a personal point of view, in the run-up to the race, she was such a short-priced favourite that I felt a little bit of pressure. In my mind, and in everyone's mind, with her rating and looking at the field, she really should have won. There's nothing worse than being a short-priced favourite because you don't want it to go wrong. But ultimately it didn't, and she won as we thought she would.”Rob Speers | TattersallsLibertango is the latest big-race winner that Speers has sourced from the breeze-ups on behalf of Araci. Between Native Khan and Koropick, and now Libertango, there was a brief sales ring hiatus given the owner was placing all of his emphasis and resources into refurbishing a stud farm in Newmarket. With that complete, Speers believes that Old Mill Stud will be spotted more frequently at the breeding stock, yearling and breeze-up sales in the future.He said, “The breeze-ups have been very successful for Mr Araci over the years. However, about seven years ago, we purchased a stud farm in Newmarket that needed a lot of work so the focus had been on that more recently. We had to demolish a barn, get planning permission to rebuild and spend a lot of time and money refurbishing as well as buying extra mares and stock to go into it. So, the focus for a while came away from the track.”He added, “The first thing that struck me about Libertango at the Craven was her pedigree. She's out of an own-sister to a horse called Aktabantay, who I bought as a yearling for Mr Araci many years ago. He was a very talented two-year-old and Hugo Palmer's first-ever Group winner. So, it's a pedigree we know. We had half a dozen horses on the list and she was quite late in the sale – I think she was only six or seven lots from the end on the final night. We decided to let the others go and put all our eggs into one basket, hoping we'd buy her. Thankfully, that worked. “I think it's wonderful that one of our Group 1 winners this year is a homebred, and the other was bought from the sales. That sums up where we are. Mr Araci has eight or nine mares here on the farm. They're well-bred, nice mares, but trying to be successful and have high-quality horses on the track from just homebreds, if you have nine mares, is almost impossible. We are lucky we have Predawn, the dam of Glacius, and some other nice mares on the farm, but we'll also be dipping in and out of the sales going forward. As each foal crop comes through, we'll look at what we have, colt-wise and filly-wise, and where we might need to top up. Whether we top up by buying a foal or two, going to the breeze-ups, or buying a yearling or two, we'll just be topping up what we breed by going to the sales.”Speers agrees that with Libertango, his boss has a mare who he can send to just about any top stallion he chooses. Before that day comes, connections are happy to chart a path towards the 1,000 Guineas, with Speers admitting that Boughey and Loughnane are quietly confident that the filly will stay at least seven furlongs. He said, “The plan will be to give her a Guineas prep, and she's likely to start in the Guineas. We'll just have to see if she stays. A week before the Moyglare Stud Stakes, we worked her over seven furlongs on the summer gallop with some older horses, and she galloped right out over the top of them. Billy has always said seven furlongs would be no problem. If she gets the trip, great. If she doesn't, she can come back in trip and head to the Commonwealth Cup. But that's all for next year. For now, hopefully she has a good winter.”The wait to see whether Libertango will see out the Guineas trip or not will be made a whole lot shorter with Glacius to look forward to and, according to Speers, the ultimate winter warmer has “a big chance” in Friday's showpiece Bahrain Trophy.He concluded, “There are a lot of things in his favour. We will go there hopefully with a big chance. He's already won his Group 1, and he's a Group-performing two-year-old. He's by Too Darn Hot out of an own-sister to an Oaks winner. It's just about building on what he's achieved so far. I think he certainly has the opportunity to go to Turkey to be a stallion for Mr Araci if he chose to do that, but the horse doesn't have to improve much more to get a job in Europe either. He's a very talented horse and, being by Too Darn Hot, he'd have no problem getting a Southern Hemisphere deal. If we can pick up another Group 1 or Group race along the way, we'll have to start thinking about what we might do with him in time. But he'll certainly be staying in training next year.”The post Araci Bids To Crown Memorable Year With Homebred Glacius In $1.5 million Bahrain Trophy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.