Trainer Graham Motion is in Dubai with Lucky Chappy, who is a serious contender in Saturday’s $2 million UAE Derby. Motion got his first look at Lucky Chappy on Tuesday morning and though the trainer admits his 3-year-old is “not an impressive horse to watch train,” he does like how things have gone for Lucky Chappy since his arrival in Dubai.
Bernie Schiappa, part-owner of Game On Dude, said there is little doubt that trainer Bob Baffert will be in attendance at Meydan on Saturday night when Game On Dude runs in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Bill Mott arrived in Dubai on Tuesday morning, reuniting with the filly, Royal Delta, he had shipped here from Florida a week ago. It was a trip he had first thought about taking four months ago. It was a trip he wondered for some time if he would be permitted to make.
Trainer Herman Brown had to sweat it out until entry day, but his recently acquired 3-year-old, Maritimer, drew into Saturday night’s $2 million UAE Derby.
Though Tim Yakteen has been training on his own for eight years now, Bob Baffert has summoned his former assistant to assist in his quest for a third Dubai World Cup with Game On Dude this Saturday at Meydan.
Led by Breeders’ Cup winners St Nicholas Abbey and Wrote, trainer Aidan O’Brien entered five horses Monday as post positions were drawn for eight of the nine races on Saturday’s $27.2 million Dubai World Cup card at Meydan. Post positions for the $10 million Dubai World Cup -- the world’s richest race -- will be drawn Wednesday. O’Brien is expected to enter So You Think in that race, bringing his total number of runners on the acrd to six.
Curren Chan, Japan's champion sprinter of 2011, scored a neck victory in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chuyko Racecourse.
Foxwedge, the 11-1 upset winner of the Group 1 William Reid Stakes for sprinters at Mooney Valley on Friday, is a candidate for the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
Just six American-based horses will ship to the Middle East for next weekend's Dubai World Cup, due mainly to the switch to a Tapeta surface at the new Meydan racecourse.
