De Kock: Archi's one in a Million

Mike de Kock attempts to halt the Aidan O’Brien bandwagon in Chicago on Saturday when his Archipenko locks horns with Mount Nelson in the Arlington Million.

O’Brien has carried all before him this season and will hope to add to his mammoth total of 17 top-level victories, one of which was claimed by Mount Nelson in the Eclipse.

It would be ironic should Archipenko, a recent Group Two scorer at Ascot, beat O’Brien’s four-year-old as he used to be trained at Ballydoyle in his younger days.

“Aidan’s Mount Nelson is a top horse in his own right, a Grade One winner in Europe,” said De Kock.

“When drawing collateral form between him and Archipenko they appear exactly on a par, so this most definitely won’t be a walk in the park for either of them.

“Aidan and Johnny Murtagh are in devastating form. They’ve won 17 Group One races this season alone.

“It’s bound to be an exciting finish as Kevin Shea and Johnny also renew the rivalry and sportsmanship they shared in Dubai.

“Arlington is similar to the Sha Tin racecourse in Hong Kong, except it goes the other way round.

“But we have the inside draw and we’re looking forward to the race.”

French challenger Spirit One is also fancied to run well along with big local hope Einstein, who was second to Curlin two starts ago.

Helen Pitts trains Einstein and expects the six-year-old to put up a big performance.

“I think Einstein is ready,” said the trainer.

“He ran a huge race in the Woodford Reserve (Grade One at Churchill Downs). If he can run the way he ran in the Woodford, he’s going to be tough.”

Arlington Million

Coral bet: 2-1 Archipenko, 5-2 Mount Nelson, 9-2 Einstein, 7-1 Stream Cat, 10-1 Spirit One, 11-1 Sudan, 20-1 Cloudy’s Lane, 33-1 Silverfoot

Totesport bet: 9-4 Archipenko, 5-2 Mount Nelson, 5 Einstein, 7-1 Stream Cat, 11-1 Sudan, 12-1 Cloudy Knight, Spirit One, 20-1 Silverfoot