We're going to Dubai!

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by jaripeo

I will like to drink it. I wonder why they dont send horses like:
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¡.

Yeah I agree.

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?

* * *

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.