Benvenuto Cellini tops O’Brien trio in Futurity Trophy

Oct 23, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Aerial view of the Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire, England

The next stop on the Euro/Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby is Saturday’s Futurity Trophy (G1) at Doncaster in Great Britain. Irish training legend Aidan O’Brien, who has won the one-mile contest a record 11 times, holds a strong hand in his bid for a 12th.

O’Brien sends out half of the six-horse field, led by Benvenuto Cellini, the early favorite for next year’s Epsom Derby (G1).

By the unbeaten phenom Frankel and out of 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) heroine Newspaperofrecord, Benvenuto Cellini has won his past two starts impressively since stepping up to a mile. The flashy chestnut broke his maiden at Killarney and romped in the Champions Juvenile (G2) at Leopardstown. That was a 'Win and You're In' for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), but connections preferred to keep him in Europe.

Benvenuto Cellini is bred to be top-class and the Frankel colt is very good in the Group 2 @KPMG_Ireland Champions Juvenile Stakes, scoring under Christophe Soumillon for Aidan O'Brien @LeopardstownRC pic.twitter.com/AjUzUhIzdB

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 13, 2025

Stablemate Hawk Mountain is already a winner on the Euro/Mideast Road, having taken the Sept. 27 Beresford (G2) in front-running fashion at the Curragh. The son of the late Wootton Bassett and the multiple Group 1-winning Hydrangea currently has 10 points on the leaderboard.

O’Brien’s third entrant, Action, also comes off a scoring race on the Euro/Mideast Road. The Frankel colt earned three points when staying on for third in the Sept. 27 Royal Lodge (G2) at Newmarket. A half-brother to this year’s Epsom and Irish Derby (G1) hero Lambourn, Action figures to improve as the distances increase.

The all-time great Frankel has two more colts in the Futurity Trophy field, Oxagon and Item.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained Oxagon was a closing second in the Champagne (G2) here before winding up fifth in the Dewhurst (G1) at Newmarket. A return to Doncaster could help Prince A.A. Faisal’s homebred.

Item, a Juddmonte homebred like Frankel, brings a 2-for-2 record into his first serious class test. The Andrew Balding pupil rallied to win his debut over Kempton’s Polytrack, and switching to turf at Bath, he went wire-to-wire.

Rounding out the field is longshot Rochfortbridge, most recently runner-up in the Silver Tankard S. at Pontefract.

The Futurity Trophy, worth points on the 10-5-3-2-1 scale to the top five finishers, is set as Doncaster’s second race at 9:05 a.m. ET. You can watch and wager at TwinSpires.com.

After the Futurity Trophy, the last scoring race on turf, the Euro/Mideast Road pauses until early 2026. The action resumes on the Dubai dirt in the Jan. 23 UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) at Meydan, followed by the Feb. 14 Saudi Derby (G3) on Saudi Cup day in Riyadh, and the Feb. 20 Dubai Road to the Kentucky Derby S. back at Meydan.

In late February, the Euro/Mideast Road returns to Great Britain for the Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions S. at Kempton, and in early March comes the Patton at Dundalk in Ireland. Both races are held over Polytrack.

The expanded Euro/Mideast Road concludes with the March 28 UAE Derby (G2) on the Meydan dirt on Dubai World Cup night.