 Group 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Cajun Beat was among a five-strong team of American raiders targeting the $2million Dubai Golden Shaheen on the Dubai World Cup card, who had their first work on the main Nad Al Sheba track yesterday morning.
Trained by Steve Margolis, the four-year-old son of Grand Slam, had a routine canter on the dirt.
After watching the work, Margolis reported: "Everything is going fine and we are really happy. The horse shipped here well and this is our first morning out on the main track.
"The plan is to work him over half a mile under the floodlights on Monday evening," he added.
Four other Dubai Golden Shaheen challengers cantered on the main track shortly after sunrise.
Todd Pletcher's Alke, who scored a shock two and a half length win over Cajun Beat in the $100,000 Deputy Minister Handicap (Gr 3) at Gulfstream Park early February, Julio Canani's Tsigane, Our New Recruit, trained by John W Sadler and the Myra Mora-trained Tour Of The Cat also had a feel of the surface.
American horses have enjoyed their most success in the Dubai Golden Shaheen, winning three of the race's last four runnings.
Breeders' Cup Classic winner and runner-up, Pleasantly Perfect and Medaglia d'Oro, were also given a breeze on the Nad Al Sheba dirt, a surface which is comprised of a mixture of fine dune sand, silt and clay.
Pleasantly Perfect, the Richard Mandella-trained favourite for the $6 million Dubai World Cup (Gr I), was also out on the track at the crack of dawn.
A recently winner of the San Antonio Handicap (Gr. II) the Kentucky-bred son of Pleasant Colony looked the picture of health as he cantered on the dirt.
He was followed by Medaglia d'Oro, from the stable of Bobby Frankel, who arrived in Dubai along with the other American challengers on Sunday. Race fans will be a mouth-watering re-match between these two, who dominated the Breeders' Cup Classic last October at Santa Anita Park.
While Pleasantly Perfect missed his prep-race for the Dubai World Cup, the Santa Anita Handicap (Gr 1) earlier this month, Medaglia d'Oro won the Donn Handicap (Gr 1) at Gulfstream Park by a facile four and three quarters of a length.
The Doug O'Neill-trained Japan Cup Dirt winner and Dubai World Cup challenger Fleetstreet Dancer and Godolphin Mile hopeful Excessivepleasure, were both out having an easy canter on the main track.
During, another American challenger in the Godolphin Mile, who is trained by the dual Dubai World Cup winning trainer Bob Baffert, also had a lung-opener yesterday morning.
Hard Buck, trained in America by Kenneth McPeek, makes a return to Dubai to run in the $2 million Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr I). The son of Spend A Buck, who was ninth in the 2003 UAE Derby (Gr II) worked on the main track.
Hard Buck, a recent winner in the Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap (Gr I) is a leading contender for the Dubai Sheema Classic.
The final two American raiders, Neil Drysdale's Sarafan, runner in the $2million Dubai Duty Free (Gr I), and Patrick Gallagher's Dubai World Cup hope Domestic Dispute, worked on the training track located adjacent to the Dubai World Cup Quarantine Centre. |
