Dubai Duty Free

[my miss storm cat]

Dubai Duty Free (Group 1), sponsored by Dubai Duty Free
Thoroughbreds
$5,000,000 - 1,777m - Turf
1st: $3,000,000. 2nd: $1,000,000. 3rd: $500,000. 4th: $250,000. 5th: $150,000. 6th: $100,000
ADMIRE MOON Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondo
BAD GIRL RUNS Mike De Kock Mrs S Plattner
BEST NAME Saeed Bin Suroor Godolphin
DAIWA MAJOR Hiroyuki Uehara Keizo Oshiro
ENGLISH CHANNEL Todd Pletcher James T. Scatuorchio
FLASHY WINGS Mick Channon Jaber Abdullah
FORMAL DECREE Saeed Bin Suroor Godolphin
IRRIDESCENCE Mike De Kock Team Valor
KAPIL Mike De Kock M Fullard S Drew D Watson-Smith C Carey &
Mrs C Gabler
LAVA MAN Doug O'Neill STD Racing Stable & Jason Wood
LINNGARI Herman Brown J Atkinson, P Walichnowski
MIESQUE'S APPROVAL Martin Wolfson Live Oak Plantation
MYSTICAL Ganapathy Subbiah Mr & Mrs Zavaray S Poonawalla, Mr & Mrs Yohan
Poonawalla, Ms Delna Poonawalla
& Ms Simone Z Poonawalla
POMPEII RULER Mick Price Bridsan Bloodstock Syndicate (Mgr: Brian Coyle)
SEIHALI Dhruba Selvaratnam HH Sh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
STORMY RIVER Nicolas Clement Ecurie Mister Ess As

[brockguy]

Flashy Wings is very interesting here, esp if she gets quick ground...

[my miss storm cat]

She had a look round this morning.....

TURF TRACK

Flashy Wings and Compton’s Eleven – 4f/47.5s 2f/22.77s. Good work. Former started three lengths behind and finished five in front responding well to urging, later was eased up in end.

[my miss storm cat]

Press releases...


Lava Man loving Nad al Sheba turf course

With dapples gleaming on his dark bay coat, six-time Grade 1 winner Lava Man strode around the Nad al Sheba turf course for the first time on Sunday morning in advance of the US$5-million Dubai Duty Free (Gr.1).

The smile on exercise rider Tony Romero’s face after the gallop told the story of how the six-year-old Slew City Slew gelding handled the course.

“He loves it here,” Romero said from the saddle as he guided Lava Man off the track. “He’s doing really good.”

That is the best kind of news for those fans of Lava Man who know that the gelding has not won a major race outside of California, partly due to his tendency to expend too much energy prior to his races when he is shipped to new surroundings. The Dubai sunshine might remind Lava Man of home, however, as he appeared relaxed yet eager in his gallop.

Trainer Doug O’Neill has tried to arrange everything for the gelding to feel at home, and all the members of the Hollywood Park team who regularly care for him will be in Dubai.



English Channel may gallop under lights on Monday

Current plans call for multiple Grade 1 winner English Channel to train under the lights at Nad al Sheba on Monday night so that he can get a feel of what conditions will be like for the Dubai Duty Free (Gr.1).

“We’ll gallop him,” said assistant Ginny DePasquale after talking by phone with trainer Todd Pletcher, who is still in the United States. “He hasn’t run under the lights before.”

Until Pletcher arrives later in the week, DePasquale is overseeing his squadron of five runners, two exercise riders and three grooms. All the horses traveled well from the U.S. to Dubai, although Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr.1) candidate Host developed a slight cough following the trip, DePasquale said. His bloodwork has shown no problems, however.

In addition to English Channel and Host, the Pletcher contingent also includes Dubai Sheema Classic contender Honey Ryder and Dubai Golden Shaheen entrants Bishop Court Hill and Friendly Island.

The entire group has been going out to the Nad al Sheba training track in the mornings. They jogged on Saturday and galloped on Sunday. With the exception of English Channel’s Monday night exercise, the contingent is scheduled to visit the main track only on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, DePasquale said.

She also confirmed jockey assignments for the quintuplet. John Velazquez, the primary rider for Pletcher’s barn, will pilot English Channel, Host and Bishop Court Hill, while Garrett Gomez, who took over top duties when Velazquez was injured last year, will be aboard Honey Ryder and Friendly Island.

[my miss storm cat]

UAE press releases.....

No author listed.

Lava Man’s camp optimistic about Dubai Duty Free challenge


There’s a palpable feeling of optimism around the connections of Lava Man who have observed his initial gallops and overall demeanor since he arrived in Dubai last week.

“He’s happy here,” said exercise rider Tony Romero. “It’s a surprise, but that’s why I have a lot of confidence in him.”

Romero gave the thumbs up sign when he guided Lava Man off the track on Monday morning following a particularly eye-catching gallop over the turf course, the same strip the six-time Grade 1 winner will race over in Saturday’s US$5-million Dubai Duty Free (Gr.1). Eager to keep going, Lava Man pulled against the bit when Romero tried to ease him after the exercise.

“The turf is excellent. To tell you the truth, he looks better here when he gallops on the grass than he does back home in California,” said Carlos Pena, who has been overseeing Lava Man’s preparations before the arrival of Leandro Mora, the assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill.

Although Lava Man has a reputation for not shipping well or adjusting calmly to new surroundings, he has been relaxed in Dubai.

“Before when he traveled, he didn’t eat. He’s eating well and sleeping well here,” Romero said.

“I cross my fingers, but this time he looks different than he did in Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup,” Pena added, referring to Lava Man’s journey to Churchill Downs for the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr.1) on dirt, in which he finished seventh after being bumped and carried wide on a track that has been widely described as favoring horses on the inside.

The large stalls in the Nad al Sheba quarantine barn and the peaceful environment have proved to be much more appealing to the horse than the barn area at Churchill, he said.

Although pleased with his adjustment, Lava Man’s team has taken steps to ensure he will be in a position to race to the best of his versatile ability. The gelding has been training with pads on his at times troublesome feet, and on race day, he will wear earplugs while in the paddock in hopes he will not become too jumpy in all the hoopla before racing, Romero said.

A Grade 1 winner on dirt and turf, Lava Man can run on the lead or stalk the early pace, which could give him the advantage of dictating pace in the Dubai Duty Free.



* * *

Pletcher cancels night work for English Channel

Trainer Todd Pletcher changed his mind and decided not to send multiple Grade 1 winner English Channel out to gallop around Nad al Sheba under the lights on Monday evening.

“He just didn’t want to upset (English Channel’s) schedule,” said assistant Ginny DePasquale of the change in plans.

Instead, English Channel galloped 1 ¼ miles around the Nad al Sheba training track on Monday morning and was scheduled to make an appearance on the main track on Tuesday as he continues to prepare for the US$5-million Dubai Duty Free (Gr.1).

DePasquale said the five-year-old son of Smart Strike has always traveled and adjusted well to new surroundings, as his record suggests, and he has done so again in Dubai. English Channel has made his 17 career starts over nine different tracks in six states in America, winning ten times, including seven stakes.

[brockguy]

from the racingpost - come on Flashy!!!

MICK CHANNON was on hand on Monday night to watch Flashy Wings and Youmzain work under the Nad Al Sheba lights as part of the final preparations before their runs in the Dubai Duty Free and Sheema Classic respectively.

Both horses completed under a circuit of the turf track, covering about 1m and working the final 3f in company with stable companions. Big-night jockey Richard Hughes was in the saddle as Youmzain worked with Compton's Eleven and the pair finished the piece of work upsides. Stamina being Youmzain's game, and his companion a sprinter, it was a decent workout.

Far more visually impressive, though, was Flashy Wings who quickened right away from Royal Power without Hughes seeming to move a muscle.

“We just wanted them to have a look at the track under lights and that was perfect,” said Channon. “Youmzain is never an exuberant worker and that was what we expected. ‘Flashy' has worked well and it is all systems go for Saturday.”