Drew's Gold back to work tab, with eye toward Dubai

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Drew’s Gold, the multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old sprinter, returned to the work tab Tuesday, breezing an easy three furlongs in 39.71 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.

It was his first work since being purchased privately in October by Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Alnuami’s RRR Racing and turned over to trainer Chad Summers. The goal for Drew’s Gold is the Dubai Golden Shaheen next March 30 with a possible prep beforehand in the Mahab Al Shimaal on March 2, Summers said.

Drew’s Gold won his first four starts, including the Jimmy Winkfield and Gold Fever stakes, before suffering his first defeat when second to Arabian Lion in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens. Three more losses would follow, including a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga in August.

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Summers said when he first got Drew’s Gold, the horse seemed “a bit flat,” so he gave him three weeks on a farm before starting over with him.

Summers said the luxury of training for RRR Racing is “they’re not motivated by making stallions.” Summers noted that RRR purchased the U.S-based sprinter Switzerland several years ago and that horse won the Dubai Golden Shaheen at age 8 and was beaten a nose in the same race this year at age 9. He is scheduled to race in 2024 at age 10.

“When you train for these guys, the goal is to get them right and once you get them right, maintain their form,” Summers said.

Summers said both Drew’s Gold and Clapton, winner of the Grade 2 Lukas Classic, are scheduled to ship to Dubai in mid-January. Clapton, 11th in the BC Classic, is likely to run in the Maktoum Challenge on Jan. 26, Summers said.

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