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For Ms. Gallant.....
UAE... Brittain’s DWC Kandidate reappears Respected British trainer Clive Brittain, who has a fine record in the UAE, unleashes Carnival regular and Dubai World Cup hope Kandidate (pictured) at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday. The globe-trotting six-year-old will seek to take the route he took into the Dubai World Cup last year, when he triumphed in Round two of the Maktoum Challenge – the showpiece race on Thursday’s card, sponsored by Shadwell Farm. On that occasion the son of Kabool displayed a front running masterclass to romp home and take the Group 2 honours 5 ¾ lengths ahead of Mullins Bay, and Brittain would love to witness a repeat this time out. "We hope to be able to emulate what he did last year," said the Newmarket-based handler. "The plan is to get him invited to run in the Dubai World Cup again but it obviously depends on his performance in the Maktoum Challenge. We hope to take our chance, but realize the Carnival is getting tougher each year. "We felt that in last year’s World Cup when he broke he stumbled and that hampered him from the off. I’m not saying that he would have won but he would have been a lot closer to the fourth placed horse Vermilion." Kandidate finished the race, won by Invasor, in sixth. Outlining Kandidate’s smooth preparation at Nad Al Sheba this time around Brittain added: "He’s settled in very well in Dubai. His weight is good and he’s been eating very well, so everything looks as though it’s going to plan.” Kandidate is one of the most experienced horses in Carnival history, having competed in the past three editions. The 73-year-old Brittain added: "He’s got a lot of air miles on the clock now and we know that whenever he travels abroad he will run up to a certain mark. "Dubai suits him, he’s used to it there now. He’s won there the past two years and we’re looking for the hat-trick now.” The veteran trainer also hopes to be double handed in Friday’s feature, the UAE 1000 Guineas for which he has Albabilia and Love Of Dubai. The latter was sixth in a conditions race behind Godolphin’s Fiesta Lady on the first night of the Carnival, while Albabilia won the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes before finishing fourth in the Group 1 Moyglare Stakes on The Curragh. Brittain explains: “It was very wet when they arrived so Love Of Dubai probably needed that run quite badly. Albabilia is a lovely filly and the plan is to run both at the moment.” Curlin..... http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/sho...754#post315754 |
Well Armed, Floral Peg.....
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Divine park possible for the Godolphin Mile.....
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Perhaps the most mind boggling thread ever submitted.
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For Curlin fans...
UAE... Curlin arrives in Dubai with ‘pep in his step’ After enjoying a flight “that couldn’t have gone any better” in the words of assistant trainer Scott Blasi, Horse of the Year Curlin arrived in Dubai on Sunday evening and settled comfortably into a spacious stall in the quarantine area of the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse backstretch. When dawn broke on Monday morning, the son of Smart Strike was alert and bright as he stretched his legs with a walk around the barn and received a bath. Curlin was to stay in quarantine for 48 hours before getting his first feel of the Nad Al Sheba dirt track on Wednesday as he prepares for his initial start of 2008, a $175,000 race on February 28 that is part of the Dubai International Racing Carnival, and then the Dubai World Cup (UAE-gr. I). “Curlin is pretty smart—he knows he’s here to do something,” Blasi said. “He’s got quite a bit of pep in his step, so I’ll be anxious to get him to the track.” The four-year-old son of Smart Strike is eating well, but Blasi noted that the robust colt typically has a strong appetite. “He’s a good doer. He didn’t get that big by not eating,” he quipped, adding, “He looks really good.” Curlin’s regular exercise rider, Carmen Rosas, also made the trip to Dubai, along with Blasi’s pony, Poncho, who is enjoying his Dubai accommodations near his famous Thoroughbred companion. “Right now Poncho thinks he’s died and gone to heaven,” Blasi said. “He’s got a stall the size of a paddock.” From the time Curlin and Poncho arrived at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airport on Saturday, Blasi said everything about the trip went exceptionally well. It took little time to load and depart, and a refueling stop at the Stanstead Airport in England was brief and uneventful. “My hat’s off to whoever orchestrated all this,” Blasi said, praising the Janah Management Co. Ltd. of Newmarket, England, which dispatched skilled traveling groom Chris Webster to help tend to Curlin. Blasi said Curlin is scheduled to breeze early next week before the race, which will be contested over 2,000 meters. Jockey Robby Albarado is due to arrive in Dubai on February 26, and trainer Steve Asmussen, who sent out the 4,000th winner of his career on Sunday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, will arrive the following day. |
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Morty, why don't you update the Japanese runners and the situation with the quarantine problems.....
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Take on Vodka for the Duty Free.....
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Super Thursday has it's own thread...
* * * From the ERA..... American squad taking shape for World Cup day Even though Saturday’s Santa Anita Handicap (Gr.1) may have scrambled the aspirations of some of America’s Dubai World Cup (Gr.1) program contenders, the contingent from the United States is beginning to take shape. There could be at least four American-based horses in the world’s richest race, with reigning Horse of the Year Curlin, the WinStar Farm duo of Well Armed and Spring At Last (the latter co-owned with J. Paul Reddam), and the Allen Paulson Living Trust’s A. P. Arrow currently leading the way. A. P. Arrow, who apparently will be the only representative of leading American trainer Todd Pletcher in Dubai this year, worked on Sunday at Palm Beach Downs in Florida, covering five furlongs in 1:01.60 over a dirt surface rated fast. The move was the fastest of five at the distance. A six-year-old son of A.P. Indy, A. P. Arrow roared down the Gulfstream Park stretch to missing catching Spring At Last in the Donn Handicap (Gr.1) on February 2 by a half-length. “It was almost exactly what we had in mind for him,” Pletcher said with a laugh, indicating that he would have preferred a victory. “But he ran very well.” With several years of experience sending horses to Dubai, including five in 2007, Pletcher said he intends to get most of A. P. Arrow’s serious work done before he ships. Then, the chestnut would either gallop up to the 2,000-meter race or have just a light breeze at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. “He’s obviously an older horse and well traveled so I feel like he’ll handle it,” Pletcher said. And with his strong closing style, “I would think the long stretch (at Nad Al Sheba) would suit him very well.” A. P. Arrow has won or placed in 16 of 22 starts, including a victory in last year’s Clark Handicap (Gr.2) at Churchill Downs, and has earned US$1,128,290 while carrying the famous Paulson colors that Cigar bore while winning the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996. Some of the Santa Anita Handicap competitors, including winner Heatseeker, also could race in Dubai but their connections have not determined a next target. Meanwhile, three American candidates for the Dubai Golden Shaheen (Gr.1) worked over the weekend, with runners on the East and West Coast firing bullets with the fastest times. Benny the Bull, a Grade 1 winner who captured the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes impressively in his only start to date of 2008, drilled five furlongs in 1:00 handily at Palm Meadows Training Center on Friday for trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. That move was the best of 19 at the distance. On the opposite coast the same day, Grade 3 winner Bushwacker drilled five furlongs in :57.40 at Hollywood Park, fastest of 31 at the distance. Trainer Bill Currin said he caught the six-year-old by Outflanker galloping out six furlongs in 1:09.60. “He's ready, fit. I worked him with no Lasix, because I can't use it (in Dubai),” Currin told Daily Racing Form. He's sound and he's ready to travel." Bushwacker did not enjoy a trip to Florida for the Sunshine Millions Sprint, however, finishing 11th behind Benny the Bull. Another Dubai Golden Shaheen contender, Grade 1 winner and two-time track record setter Idiot Proof worked on Saturday, going a half-mile in :47.80 over the all-weather track at Santa Anita Park, seventh fastest of 47 works at the distance that day. Idiot Proof won the Ancient Title Stakes (Gr.1) at Santa Anita last fall and then finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Gr.1). In two starts this year, the four-year-old son of Benchmark has finished third in the El Conejo Handicap (Gr.3) and second in the Phoenix Gold Cup Handicap. Barbecue Eddie, a Stormy Atlantic gelding who finished ahead of Idiot Proof while second in the El Conejo and then missed by just a neck to In Summation in the Palos Verdes Handicap (Gr.2), also is on target for the Dubai Golden Shaheen, trainer Brian Koriner confirmed. Other American horses preparing for Dubai World Cup program races include 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr.1) winner Better Talk Now, who toured five furlongs at Palm Meadows on Friday in a leisurely 1:05 while working for the Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr.1), and Benny the Bull’s stablemate Diamond Stripes, who drilled six furlongs in 1:15 at Palm Meadows the same day. Winner of the Meadowlands Cup Handicap (Gr.2) last year over 2006 Dubai World Cup third-place finisher Magna Graduate, Diamond Stripes is aiming for the Godolphin Mile (Gr.2) after placing in three Grade 1 events last year at 1 1/8 miles. |
Massive Drama to UAE Derby
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Not going to Dubai.....
Champs Elysees Awesome Gem Student Council Monterey Jazz Oh good Lord, Great Hunter is going..... |
Agnes Jedi and Iide Kenshin.....
(5 runners from Japan total). |
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Nothing to jump up and down. :p |
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You know that I respect the Yellow Floyd |
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I'm excited about seeing Vodka..... you too? :) |
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SUNNY POWER (Aus) that will turn me on. Or Sans Adien Matsurida Gogh or at least, Super Hornet. Let us see the new faces. Dont you think¡.;) |
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Interesting that they're sending Admire Aura. AA, Vermilion, VODKA, Agnes Jedi and Iide Kenshin... perhaps we should write to the JRA and ask that they send a few more? :D * * * From the DRC... Well Armed turns in ‘super’ Dubai World Cup breeze If trainer Eoin Harty was happy with Dubai World Cup (Gr.1) candidate Well Armed’s workout on March 5, he was nearly ecstatic with the five-year-old gelding’s exercise on Tuesday. “He went super,” Harty said after jockey Aaron Gryder steered the son of Tiznow through five furlongs (approximately 1,000 meters) in 1:00.40 over the all-weather surface at Santa Anita Park. “He looked like he went even easier than he did last week.” Harty knows he has several advantages with the WinStar Farm colorbearer going into the US$6 million Dubai World Cup, sponsored by Emirates Airline. Not only has Well Armed already won at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, notching a conditions race victory during the 2006 Dubai International Racing Carnival, he also is blessed with strong tactical speed. Perhaps most importantly, Well Armed is thriving as the race looms closer. “I couldn’t ask for him to be doing any better before going over there,” Harty said. The trainer plans to send Well Armed out for a seven-furlong (about 1,400-meter) workout next week prior to his scheduled departure for Dubai on March 18. Once in the United Arab Emirates, Harty said he probably will breeze the Grade 2 winner and Hollywood Park track record setter an easy half-mile (about 800 meters) before the world’s richest race. One of Well Armed’s American-based rivals in the Dubai World Cup is expected to be A. P. Arrow, a six-year-old son of leading sire A.P. Indy whose strong closing rally in the Donn Handicap (Gr.1) at Gulfstream Park fell just a half-length short of winner Spring At Last. A. P. Arrow drilled five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Palm Beach Downs in Florida on Sunday for trainer Todd Pletcher. That workout was the third fastest of eight at the distance at the training center and followed a similar move a week earlier. Barbecue Eddie aims for Golden Shaheen breakthrough It might seem like a tall order for a horse that has never won a stakes race to claim a major prize on the Dubai World Cup (Gr.1) program, but California trainer Brian Koriner wouldn’t want to be anywhere else with sharp sprinter Barbecue Eddie than at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on March 29. Koriner knows the four-year-old gelding has proved he is competitive with some of America’s speediest runners and thus doesn’t want to miss taking a shot at the US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (Gr.1), sponsored by Gulf News. “It’s a great opportunity,” Koriner said Tuesday after watching Barbecue Eddie zip through a five-furlong (about 1,000-meter) workout at Santa Anita Park. “He went really well,” he added of the drill. “He’s a really good work horse. He loped out six furlongs in 1:13.40, and he’ll have one more breeze next week before he leaves (for Dubai). It will be something pretty light and we’ll send him on his way.” Once Koriner found out that Idiot Proof was going to contest the Dubai Golden Shaheen, he knew Barbecue Eddie deserved his chance, too. Owned by Brewer Racing Stable and John D. and John R. Haagsma, Barbecue Eddie finished ahead of Idiot Proof when the pair was second and third, respectively, in the El Conejo Handicap (Gr.3) on January 1 at Santa Anita. He was also just three-quarters of a length behind in third when Idiot Proof won the Ancient Title Stakes (Gr.1) last October. “If Idiot Proof had gone over and won, it would have been really hard to sit back and not be there,” Koriner said. Like most trainers who have not saddled a runner in a straightaway sprint, Koriner said he did not know how Barbecue Eddie, a four-year-old gelding by Stormy Atlantic, would handle the 1,200-meter dash down the Nad Al Sheba stretch. However, he suggested the event is more a test for jockeys than the horses themselves, and he will rely on rider Aaron Gryder to put Barbecue Eddie in a good position. “He’s able to lay off the pace or able to be on the lead,” Koriner said of the versatile Barbecue Eddie, who in his most recent start finished just a neck behind Grade 1 winner In Summation in the six-furlong (about 1,200-meter) Palos Verdes Handicap (Gr.2) at Santa Anita on January 21. “In Summation barely got by him,” Koriner said. “But it’s good we don’t have to run against him again.” In Summation is being rested and will not make the trip to Dubai. After the Dubai Golden Shaheen, Barbecue Eddie also will get a rest and then will be honed for the Del Mar meet this summer in Southern California. Eventually, Koriner said he hopes the gelding will make the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Gr.1), which will be run at Santa Anita. |
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