RACING/DUBAI:MIKE DE Kock is looking to Musir and Golden Sword to give him a first success in the Dubai World Cup following the forced withdrawal of Bold Silvano.
The South African trainer had the disappointment of having to take out his number one fancy eased with the knowledge it allows Golden Sword into the world’s richest race, sponsored by Emirates Airline, at Meydan on Saturday.
“He bruised his foot, nothing major but enough to keep him off the track for a few days but he is fine now and working great. So far, Plan B is going well with him, but Saturday will be the proof,” said De Kock.
“It is no secret that we wanted to run Golden Sword in the Dubai World Cup as he has been a revelation on the all-weather. He is working very well and certainly seems to be back to something like his best. His form in Europe suggests he will handle conditions.”
Musir stepped into Bold Silvano’s shoes when beating all bar Dubai World Cup favourite Twice Over in the third and final round of the Al Maktoum Challenge.
“You have to think he stayed, as he was only beaten by one horse. Hopefully he has come on from that run and he is a great second string to our World Cup bow,” he added.
Twice Over, trained by Henry Cecil, had a steady canter over half a mile on the main track at Meydan under his regular jockey Tom Queally. The six-year-old was reported on good terms with himself in this very easy piece of work.
Irish raider Cape Blanco is expected to arrive in Dubai in the early hours today. The earliest Aidan O’Brien’s horse can make an appearance on the track will be Thursday.
Luca Cumani’s Presvis completed his preparations for Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free with a workout at Meydan on Monday morning.
The globe-trotting seven-year-old is a four-time winner in Dubai but Cumani has yet to taste success on World Cup night itself.
Presvis won a Group Two at Meydan in January, but then suffered defeat when a hot favourite for the Jebel Hatta at the start of this month.
After seeing his charge work over seven furlongs on the Turf course under big-race jockey Ryan Moore, the Italian trainer said: “That was Presvis’s final workout ahead of Saturday’s race and I was perfectly happy with the way things went.
“He is a year older now and it is hard to say if he is still as good as he was but I have been happy with his two runs to date this year. Obviously I would have liked to have won last time out but he ran very well and it looked like a good race.
“The draw on Saturday is irrelevant to him as he is going to be last out of the stalls but I hope, with luck in running, that he will have every chance.”
