RACING NEWS ROUND-UP:AIDAN O'BRIEN'S Cape Blanco, runaway winner of the Irish Champion Stakes when he had Twice Over well beaten in third, fared much better than his old rival with stall four in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan on Saturday night.
Cape Blanco will be ridden for the first time by Jamie Spencer, who said: “I’d have been happy for anything between two and nine, we got four so that means all the options are open.”
However, Twice Over will have to defy an unfavourable draw if he is to lift the prestigious prize. The Henry Cecil-trained six-year-old was only 10th from stall 11 last year, and fared even worse with his gate position this time in 12 of the 14 runners.
He did, though, overcome stall 13 when impressively landing round three of the Al Maktoum Challenge over course and distance earlier this month.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said: “He’s going to need to be lucky again, but he was drawn wide in the Maktoum Challenge so hopefully it is a good omen.
“I wouldn’t have chosen it, but there are two things in racing that you can’t affect – one is the draw and the other is the going.”
Gitano Hernando will break from eight for Marco Botti, who said: “That’s the perfect spot, I wanted to be drawn in the middle because last year we got boxed in.”
American challenger Gio Ponti, fourth 12 months ago and second to Goldikova at the Breeders’ Cup, will race from five.
Meanwhile trainer Edward Lynam cannot wait to get his shock Nunthorpe Stakes winner Sole Power back on the track in the Al Quoz Sprint, the opener on Dubai World Cup night.
The Kyllachy gelding become only the second 100 to 1 outsider to land a Group One race in Britain when taking York honours in August. All eyes will be on him in Dubai when he makes his first appearance since then.
Plans to run in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp last October were scrapped because of the unsuitably soft going, leaving the Al Quoz as the logical next step for the Co Meath trainer.
“He has wintered well and this race was always going to be the plan because you are guaranteed the fast ground that he loves, and the straight track here is pretty much the same as what he met at York,” added Lynam.
The Mick Halford-trained Invincible Ash was put through her paces by Tadhg O’Shea in a work-out on the Tapeta ahead of her run in the five-furlong dash.
Although the jockey does not ride her at the weekend, he was able to give positive feedback to connections about the six-year-old, who raced four times at the Dubai Carnival.
“She needs to up her game on Saturday night but I think she will run a big race,” said O’Shea.
Dunguib may step up in trip
DUNGUIB COULD step up to three miles at the Punchestown Festival in May following a disappointing performance in the Champion Hurdle.
Trainer Philip Fenton will enter the former Champion Bumper hero and dual Grade One hurdle winner in both championship events, but will not rush into a decision which race to go for.
The three-mile World Series Hurdle is run on Thursday, May 5th, with the Champion Hurdle over two miles staged the following day.
“We were a little bit disappointed. He didn’t perform to his best, I’m sure,” said Fenton.
“He’s absolutely fine since and I think we’ll go to Punchestown next and he’ll be entered in both the two-mile and three-mile races. The step up in trip might suit him but I can’t see the point in taking on the likes of Hurricane Fly again.
“He looks a special horse and the second and third horses (Peddlers Cross and Oscar Whisky) are very good horses, too.
“We won’t make any hasty decisions.”
