2018 Arlington Million international scouting report: Circus Couture

A nephew of globetrotting Group 1 star Jakkalberry, who set an Arlington course record in the 2012 American St Leger, Circus Couture was once an Italian highweight himself. A 10-furlong trip on good ground was a favorable scenario in his prime, but he needs to step up on his current form to take a hand in the Arlington Million (G1). 

Circus Couture is by Intikhab, best known for siring dual classic-winning champion Snow Fairy and another female celebrity in Red Evie (dam of Found). His dam, the winning Orpen mare Bois Joli, has also produced Group 1-placed stakes winner Celticus.

Second dam Claba di San Jore has been a prolific producer of five stakes heroes, including three highweights and two Italian classic victors. Aside from Jakkalberry, she is responsible for fellow Italian highweights Crackerjack King (fifth in the 2012 Arlington Million) and Kidnapping (also by Intikhab and thus a three-quarter brother to Circus Couture); Awelmarduk, who scored in the 2007 Derby Italiano (G1), four years before half-brother Crackerjack King won the same classic; and Joyful Hope, almost another classic winner when missing in the 2015 Oaks d’Italia (G2).

Further back in the family, one finds multiple Group 2 winner and sometime rival Kaspersky. Like Circus Couture, he was a notable Italian performer before joining trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam in England. Kaspersky did not win for Chapple-Hyam last year, but he did finish second in the Summer Mile (G2) to Mutakayyef and in the Superior Mile (G3) to Ballet Concerto, and exceeded expectations when fifth at 66-1 in the 2017 Queen Anne (G1).

Unraced at two for Stefano Botti, Circus Couture won five of 10 outings in 2015 to rank as Italy’s highweight three-year-old in the 9 1/2 to 11-furlong bracket. His two stakes scores came in the nine-furlong Premio del Giubileo (G3) over older horses and a mile listed stakes at Rome versus fellow sophomores. His handful of stakes placings featured the Premio Vittorio di Capua (G1), Premio Carlo Vittadini (G2), and most significant to his ranking, a near-miss to older stable star Dylan Mouth in the Premio Roma (G1). No one else was able to challenge the front runner in 1:59.70 for about 1 1/4 miles, and the stablemates pulled 4 1/2 lengths clear of the rest, among them favored French shipper Prince Gibraltar.

Circus Couture hasn’t found the winner’s circle as often as an older horse. After kicking off 2016 with a five-length romp in Milan’s Premio Ambrosiano (G3) over Germany’s Night Wish, he placed in five straight including the Premio Presidente della Repubblica (G2) and Gran Premio di Milano (G2). His lone unplaced effort at four – a fifth behind Potemkin, Robin of Navan, and Elliptique in the Premio Roma – came on heavy going.