McLaughlin to take some horses to Dubai

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For nearly a decade starting in the early 1990s, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin would spend half the year training in Dubai and was a three-time leading trainer in that country.

In early 2016, McLaughlin could be headed back to Dubai – at least for a little while. He plans to take a small string there, led by his Grade 1 winner Frosted, who will point to the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.

McLaughlin said Thursday that Frosted likely will ship to Dubai around Jan. 20 with a handful of stablemates. That roster could include Marking, a good-looking allowance winner Wednesday at Aqueduct, and maybe Annual Report, a 2-year-old who is 2 for 2 and raced without Lasix in both starts. Confrontation, a horse Godolphin purchased privately during the summer for a potential run at the Godolphin Mile, is another likely headed to Dubai.

Frosted, the Wood Memorial winner who finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, could run in Round 2 of the Maktoum Challenge on Feb. 4 as a World Cup prep, McLaughlin said.

“Being that we’re planning on going with him, we might add four to six horses,” McLaughlin said. “We’re going to go over as a team. Right now, we have some members of our team that are in Dubai that used to be with me, and they would be joining back up with us.”

McLaughlin said he would alternate trips to Dubai with his brother Neal and sister-in-law Trish, who could spend the majority of the time there.

“I really look forward to going,” McLaughlin said. “It would be great to see all the changes. I wouldn’t stay that long. I would go for four or five days and then go a second time. I hope to go twice, and Neal or Trish can go for the whole time.”

McLaughlin, who won the 2007 World Cup with Invasor, said he has not raced in Dubai since Meydan opened in 2010, replacing Nad al Sheba. His last runner in Dubai was Albertus Maximus in the 2009 World Cup. He finished sixth.

By going over in January and coming back around April 1, the horses McLaughlin ships to Dubai do not have to go into quarantine. They will, however, be in their own barn in Dubai.

“Because we don’t have to do 30 days in quarantine, we could see who’s doing well at that time,” McLaughlin said. “We’ll see if some of these horses fit, then we can just take them. We have to stay isolated, and we have to come back. We have 100 days.”

Marking, a 3-year-old son of Bernardini, won an allowance race by 5 1/2 lengths on Wednesday and now has won both of his races very impressively. McLaughlin mentioned the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita as a possibility for Marking since it’s a Grade 1 restricted to 3-year-olds.

McLaughlin said he would be open to taking horses to Dubai owned by people other than the Maktoum family.