Donnacha O'Brien will travel over 6,100 kms for the race

A year ago at Del Mar, Donnacha O'Brien joined his legendary father Aidan and brother Joseph as a Breeders' Cup-winning trainer, and now the 28-year-old returns to America seeking further glory at the end-of-season world championships with Comanche Brave.

While O'Brien supremacy will be anticipated as usual from the celebrated family members heading Stateside with numerous strong contenders, Donnacha will be optimistic about making his mark with his top-class sprinter, who travels across the Atlantic boasting two European Group One victories this season.

O'Brien said: "He's had a great year, especially with his wins and we love taking horses to the Breeders' Cup when we have one good enough and he looks like he's more than worth his place in the line-up so we're looking forward to it.

"It's been the plan to go to the Breeders' Cup since he won at the Curragh (in the Flying Five Stakes) and Billy (Loughnane) is going to ride him.

"We thought about running him in the Prix de l'Abbaye but in the end we decided to go straight to America. Everything has gone to plan, there has been no hold-ups and this has been his main target for a while."

The five-time victor is well accustomed to international competition, having performed admirably in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia earlier this year before travelling to Hong Kong to challenge the formidable Ka Ying Rising on his home turf at Sha Tin.

That promising performance in the Far East sparked a sprinting campaign which has witnessed the former Classic contender rapidly climb through the ranks over shorter trips to establish himself amongst his continent's elite.

Having observed Wesley Ward's Bacio's successful raids at Royal Ascot and York throughout the domestic summer season, the Irish contingent now gets the opportunity to reciprocate in what promises to be a thrilling encounter between two sprinters operating at their absolute best.

O'Brien added: "He's a straightforward horse who travels well and it will be an interesting race, it looks like Bacio is going to line up and he will be the favourite. He's a very good sprinter and we'll have some fun taking him on.

"Fair play to Wesley for what he has achieved with Bacio in the summer. He's never afraid to travel them and him and his team have done a great job bringing the horse over to Europe and seeing what he did to the five-furlong horses over here was very impressive.

"Now it's our turn though to go over to his home turf and take him on, so we're looking forward to it."

While the Breeders' Cup eluded O'Brien during his riding career, it seemed inevitable he would eventually uphold family pride at America's premier meeting, given late autumn transatlantic journeys have been a regular fixture since his youth.

Following Balantina's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf triumph 12 months ago paving the way, the Comanche Brave team heads to Keeneland hungry for further success. "We've been going over to the Breeders' Cup since we were kids and we always have a good time over there in America," O'Brien went on to say.

"It's one of our big targets towards the end of the year and anything we have that we think can be competitive over there, we certainly try to plan towards it.

"It was nice to get the winner last year and I have plenty of owners with horses in the yard who are based in America so it was nice to show we can bring horses over to their big meetings and compete. It's an important meeting for us and we do focus on it quite a bit."