HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer David Fawkes was 35,000 feet in the air and still had eight hours left on his flight back to the United States when admitting Monday morning he was more than ready to get back home after spending the past 10 days in Dubai. The journey was part of a whirlwind couple of months for the locally based and now globe-trotting horseman, who journeyed twice to the Middle East this winter with his world-class turf sprinter Reef Runner. Two days earlier, Reef Runner finished fourth, beaten just 1 1/2 lengths, in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan. The race capped a lucrative trip to the Middle East that began Feb. 14 with a victory in the Group 2 1351 Turf Sprint in Saudi Arabia. The 5-year-old homebred son of The Big Beast earned $1,275,000 in those two starts for his owner-breeders Alex and JoAnn Lieblong. “Obviously, it would have been nice to have won this second race too, but he ran well,” Fawkes said of Reef Runner’s performance Saturday. “It had rained a lot in the 10 days I was over there, and the rider [William Buick] thought he never really handled the surface or felt like he settled into stride. The course was called firm, but their version of firm and our version of firm are two different things. I thought the course was a little on the soft side.” Buick “also said he felt the horse got a little lost out there, like he was looking for a turn when there was none in this race.” As for the trip to Dubai, Fawkes never wavered in his desire to join Reef Runner, who shipped to Meydan immediately after his victory in Saudi Arabia, despite the safety concerns throughout the area associated with the ongoing war in the Middle East. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “I felt perfectly safe the whole time I was over there, I never experienced any problems at all,” Fawkes said. “They treated us great, it was another terrific experience, although right now I’m looking forward to finally getting back home.” Reef Runner is scheduled to leave Dubai later this week. He will have a three-day layover in Kentucky upon returning to the United States before heading to the farm in Ocala for a three-week freshening. “We talked about maybe going to Ascot, but the way he seemed to be pretty unhappy racing on a straightaway, that option is probably out,” Fawkes said. “The Breeders’ Cup will likely be the main goal moving forward, and we’ll just plan a schedule for him working backwards from there.” As for Fawkes, he’ll split his time in the months ahead between Gulfstream Park, where he plans to keep 30 horses during the Royal Palm meet, and Churchill Downs, where he has 11 stalls for their upcoming session. Fawkes won 16 races during the Gulfstream Park Championship meet, which ended Sunday, and another six thus far at Oaklawn Park. “We had a great winter at both places,” said Fawkes who entered Asher’s Edge in Saturday’s main event at Gulfstream, a $75,000 overnight handicap for older horses going five furlongs on turf. Asher’s Edge, winner of the Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint over the Tapeta track in September, is coming off a dull effort when finishing 11th in the Turf Dash on Feb. 14 at Tampa Bay Downs. “I’m just putting a line through that race, I really don’t know what happened that day,” Fawkes said. “But at his best, he should be very competitive in this spot.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.