Tuesday, March 23, 2004
DUBAI WORLD CUP NEWS
Cajun Beat, favourite for the US$2,000,000 Dubai Golden Shaheen (Gr.I), sponsored by Gulf News, worked over 600 metres under floodlights AT Nad Al Sheba on Monday evening, stopping the clock in a leisurely 38.25s.
Although he started the breeze slowly, Cajun Beat picked up the pace, stretching his blinkered head toward the finish line under regular exercise rider Loren Diego, and was greeted with smiles from trainer Steve Margolis and co-owners Joe and John Iracane when he jogged back to meet them.
"He's very fit, so we told Loren, 'Whatever you do, don't go too fast,'" said John Iracane. "We wanted to leave everything in the tank."
"I didn't want him to do too much. I just wanted him to stretch his legs," Margolis said, pronouncing the colt in perfect condition
Margolis and the Iracanes also know they will be able to play an ace on Saturday in the form of jockey Jerry Bailey, who has compiled the best record of any jockey with four wins in the eight runnings of the US$6,000,000 Dubai World Cup (G1), sponsored by Emirates Airline, the ninth running of which will be the crowning race on Saturday evening.
"When you have Jerry Bailey on your side, it's a good feeling," Margolis said, noting the rider's skill at judging pace.
Cajun Beat seems to have acclimatised to the weather in Dubai, which has been mild and breezy for the past three days, and has acted like a pro while standing in the starting gate a few times. "He's just a smart, intelligent horse who never gets flustered," Margolis said.
Also working under lights on Monday evening were the Neil Drysdale pair of Sarafan and From The Sky, who choose to use the Nad Al Sheba turf where the markers were placed 15 metres out from the rail.
Sarafan represents Drysdale in the US$2,000,000 Dubai Duty Free (Gr.I),
sponsored by Dubai Duty Free.
"I couldn't ask for anything better," he said after viewing Sarafan who clocked 1:00.41 for 1,000 meters, "I think it was spot on."
Accompanied by a maiden from locally-based trainer Erwan Charpy's barn, Sarafan rocketed away with a burst of acceleration while staying on the far outside of the course under exercise rider Graham Thompson.
"He felt awesome, just absolutely awesome," Thompson said. "When he picked it up, he really exploded and then he just idled. He knows the game and he knew he had done enough."
From The Sky, who runs in the US$2,000,000 UAE Derby (Gr.II), also worked on the turf and was clocked at 25.92s for the final 400 metres.
Myra Mora's Tour Of The Cat, who runs in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (Gr.I), worked under lights on Monday and worked over 1,000 metres and was clocked at 59.4s.
Dubai World Cup (Gr.I) favourite Pleasantly Perfect, trained by Richard Mandella, and the second favourite Medaglia d'Oro had an easy canter on the main Nad Al Sheba track and look ready for Saturday.
For old articles (from 1st March 2000) go to the Newslink
Archive
|
