Gaffalione gets call aboard Sir Winston for Dubai World Cup

Tyler Gaffalione will ride 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 28 at Meydan, trainer Mark Casse said Sunday.

Gaffalione will become the eighth jockey to ride Sir Winston, who has run only 12 times. Joel Rosario was aboard for Sir Winston’s Belmont Stakes victory. Dylan Davis rode Sir Winston to a 2 1/4-length allowance victory at Aqueduct on Jan. 31.

“Tyler has won a lot of big races for me,” Casse said. “I was looking for someone a little more international. I’ve been really impressed with Dylan; those days are not far away from him.”

The Dubai World Cup will be Sir Winston’s next start as Casse has decided to bypass another race for Sir Winston following his Aqueduct victory. At one point, the Bernardini Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 29 had been mentioned as a potential start in advance of Dubai.

“His race was so good last time,” Casse said. “To be honest, I didn’t expect him to run quite as well as he did. With that big effort, I don’t want to do that again right now.”

Sir Winston returned to the work tab at Belmont Park last Friday, working a half-mile in 48.74 seconds in company over the training track. Casse said Sir Winston this week would ship to Florida to continue his preparation for the World Cup. Casse said Sir Winston would stop at his farm in Ocala, Fla., for a couple of days before moving on down to the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida.

Casse said he is doing that to gradually get Sir Winston accustomed to the different climate.

“As crazy as it sounds, it can be 15 to 20 degrees cooler in Ocala than South Florida, so we’ll slowly get him down to the warmer weather,” Casse said.

Meanwhile, Casse said Untitled, who finished second to Gouvernor Morris in a first-level allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs on Friday, will make his next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 7. The allowance was at a mile and 40 yards around two turns. The Gotham is a one-turn mile.

“I thought it was a good race,” Casse said of Untitled's allowance effort. “I thought he would run long, but you never know until you try. He probably got beat by a pretty good horse.”