The hugely valuable mile contest is the fifth and final Grade 1 race on Future Stars Friday as the Breeders' Cup meeting returns to Keeneland for the first time in four years this weekend.

Sale Shark is a dual winner this season including over the minimum distance of five furlongs at York in August and will break from stall nine under Oisin Murphy, who keeps the ride having been aboard the son of Bayside Boy for four of his six starts to this point.

Palmer is looking forward to seeing how he shapes up against the likes of Great Barrier Reef, Haffner and Folsom Blues over the longer distance in America having taken the travel in his stide.

"He's eating, he's drinking, his temperature's great," Palmer told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast. "He looks fantastic. He trained lightly yesterday (Tuesday) morning and everyone is very happy with him.

"He's going to be a big outsider, obviously our first preference was the Juvenile Turf Sprint. He was going to be first reserve for that and he was getting into the Juvenile Turf, so that's why we've plumped for the Juvenile Turf.

"I went through his pedigree at great length before even pre-entering and from a pedigree point of view he actually has no right to be running over five furlongs - he's by a miler in Bayside Boy, out of a Giant's Causeway mare who is out of a Bering mare.

"The dam didn't win but her siblings won over 10 and 12 furlongs. He is a five-furlong Listed winner but he stayed six very well.

"I was enjoying watching Aidan O'Brien's interviews yesterday saying that if you get six [furlongs] at Ascot you've got every chance of getting a mile around here. If he says it, I'm not going to argue with Aidan O'Brien! But not only has he got to get it, he's got to improve 5-6lbs for it."

Palmer has yet to land on a Breeders' Cup winner but it a regular visitor and has seen his horses running well in defeat in the past, including a couple of sixth-placed finishes at the 2021 edition in Del Mar.

"We've had a few goes," he said. "I think I'm right in saying that Sale Shark is my first Breeders' Cup runner to be give a single-figure draw. It feels that way anyway. But even he's in nine. We're probably going to ride him a little bit colder in the hope that he gets the trip.

"It's a fantastic event and I and my owners are desperate to win one of these races. You don't win any of them by staying at home. I appreciate that we are a big outsider but we're going to give it our best shot."

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