Breeders' Cup will never lack fascination factor; Racing writer of the year.

Byline: DAVID ASHFORTH

YIPPEE! Tomorrow, I'll be on a plane from Louisville (alias Churchill Downs) to Los Angeles (alias Santa Anita), for a meeting that has provided a wealth of thrills ever since I first experienced it, at Santa Anita in 1993 - the Breeders' Cup.

Then, everything was new, and novelty is exciting. Santa Anita, one of the most beautiful racecourses in the world, sunny and warm, the Saint Gabriel mountains in the background.

Each day, early at the track, horses exercising this way and that, knowledge and anticipation building through the week, trainers at their barns; D Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert and 'Shug' McGaughey III, happy to talk, quotable as can be. New faces, new voices, new horses, new riders, a different way.

For the British, it was a nervous excitement. Seven years after Santa Anita first staged the Breeders' Cup, we still wanted Americans to accept that Dancing Brave was a great horse, and Sonic Lady and Green Desert were good, really good horses - no, really. All were humbled in 1986, even though the temperature was only 73 degrees, and the Frenchtrained Last Tycoon showed that it could be done, by winning the Mile.

There were still plenty of valid obstacles to blame; the 5,500 miles from Newmarket to Santa Anita, the time of year, the tightness and firmness of the turf track, the short stretch, the alien dirt, the alien everything. Yet, the following year, Francois Boutin won the Mile in California, at Hollywood Park, with Miesque. Perhaps the French had the knack.

Every race, one quickly after another, had its crossword-puzzle fascination, which is one of the joys of the Breeders' Cup, boosted by the unfamiliar, unpredictable mixing of many of America's and Europe's finest horses. Yet in 1993, as race followed race, in 81 degrees, the British didn't count, and we wanted to count, to force the Americans to notice.

We wanted them to say, Barathea, he's something, isn't he? And Opera House, wow! After all, we had taken on the challenge, crossed an ocean and a continent, picked up the gauntlet. That deserved some recognition, some reward, surely? Barathea finished fifth in the Mile, 'our' race, a turf race. We needed to win the Turf itself, badly, and Europe had eight of the 14 runners. None finished in the first four. Opera House, winner of the Coronation Cup, the Coral-Eclipse, the King George, was sixth. Maybe, the next time the Breeders' Cup came to California, there would be no Brits.

Then, a miracle. Afterwards, there was a strange silence, while racefans stared at their Daily Racing Forms, in disbelief, vainly seeking an unfindable answer. Arcangues had won the Classic, at 134-1. Granted, the trainer was France's Andre Fabre, but we were all Europeans, especially at that moment, and Arcangues had shown that it could be done, on Southern California's firm, speed-favouring dirt.

Barathea, to Luca Cumani's elation, gained his glory the following year, at Churchill Downs, 1,800 miles nearer to Newmarket than Santa Anita. In 1997, back in California, Spinning World won the Mile at Hollywood Park. Another one for France.

THEN, in 2003, Santa Anita again. As beautiful as ever, hotter than ever, 99 degrees. Englishmen were taking off their jackets and ties. Six Perfections, another French winner in the Mile but, as the gates clanged open and the bell rang for the Filly & Mare Turf, Britain's Breeders' Cup record in California stood, embarrassingly, at nought from 31. Islington finally struck out the zero, then High Chaparral dead-heated in the Turf, for Ireland's Aidan O'Brien.

The European challenge was still essentially a turf challenge. The USA had the best dirt horses, and Europe the best turf horses. Those were their games, like baseball and cricket, although, as European trainers, and Godolphin and Coolmore, accumulated more international experience, and made the Breeders' Cup part of their long-term planning, confidence in the possibilities grew.

O'Brien had shown, with Johannesburg, at Belmont in 2001, that Europe could win the Juvenile, on dirt, and Wilko confirmed it, at Lone Star Park three years later. Then, last year, Santa Anita staged a Breeders' Cup without dirt, on a synthetic, Pro-Ride surface.

European horses won a record five races, in California. Raven's Pass's triumph in the Classic, and Curlin's defeat, stoked the fires of the US debate about synthetic surfaces but only two of Europe's five wins were on the Pro-Ride surface, including Muhannak's victory in the new Marathon. Over a distance favourable to Europeans, Muhannak beat a US rival by a head, with Sixties Icon, the British-trained favourite, well beaten. Raven's Pass was the thing.

This year's Breeders' Cup, again at Santa Anita, may contribute more to the increasingly heated debate. It will certainly supply ample fascination; the Breeders' Cup always does.