Trackside in Dubai

by Michelle MacDonald

 Emerging from dark shadows into the golden beams cast by overhead lights, California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) strode on to the track at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai more than an hour before dawn on Mar. 23 looking like a Hollywood star who owned the vast racing theater built by Sheikh Mohammed. 

“He hears your cameras,” exercise rider Willie Delgado said, smiling, as the colt struck a noble pose for the few bystanders on hand around 5 a.m. Jogging forward, California Chrome whinnied into the darkness: a challenge, perhaps, or just enthusiasm for the moment. 

“Everything is going great,” declare assistant trainer Alan Sherman after pointing his own camera at the handsome chestnut who galloped about 1 3/4 miles as he prepares for the world’s richest race, the $10 million G1 Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates. “He seems to be enjoying it here.” 

While California Chrome went to the Meydan track in the sunshine around 7 a.m. on his first venture out of quarantine on Mar. 21, Sherman has subsequently opted for the pre-dawn darkness for his most recent gallops. 

“I like coming earlier. It’s cooler and there are less flies,” Sherman said. “Plus, he’ll get used to the lights.” 
As the final event on the $30 million, nine-race program on Mar. 28, the Dubai World Cup will be run at night under Meydan’s lights, so the experience in the pre-dawn hours will help the colt owned by Steve Coburn and Perry Martin be ready to perform at his best. Trainer Art Sherman was due to be on hand for a planned half-mile breeze by California Chrome on Mar. 24. 

One of California Chrome’s key challengers in the race, Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s Lea (First Samurai), also has drawn his share of attention over the last few days at Meydan. Another robust chestnut, 6-year-old Lea “has taken everything in stride,” said trainer Bill Mott’s son and assistant, Riley. 

Lea galloped after dawn on Mar. 23 under another Mott assistant, former jockey Neil Poznansky, and had railbirds including trainers of other Dubai World Cup program races gawking at his powerful and athletic physique. 
“I’d love to get my hands on that one,” said Eoin Harty, who trained 2009 Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed (Tiznow) and who will saddle My Johnny Be Good (Colonel John) in the $2 million G2 UAE Derby on the World Cup program, after watching Lea cover the ground with fluid strides. 

Shortly beforehand, Harty had sent out Casner Racing’s homebred My Johnny Be Good to work a half-mile in :47 and change under Todd Pletcher’s exercise rider, Nick Bush. 

“That’s the best piece of work I’ve seen him put in,” Harty declared, adding that he finds the new dirt track at Meydan to be similar to the surface at Tampa Bay Downs, where My Johnny Be Good finished third in the GIII Sam F. Davis Stakes. 
Also on track for a morning gallop in the post-dawn time slot set up for American-trained runners was Al Shaqab Racing’s Mshawish (Medaglia d’Oro). Winner of his last three races for Pletcher, including the GI Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, Mshawish has been “on his toes,” reported assistant trainer Ginny DePasquale. 

“He was wild yesterday. He was leaping and diving, and Nick [Bush] had a hard time holding on to him,” she said. 
Mshawish, sent out in draw reins, galloped about 1 1/2 times around the 1750 meters of the Meydan track on Mar. 23 as he prepares for the $6 million G1 Dubai Turf, a race he finished fourth in last year when it was called the Dubai Duty Free and he was trained by Mikel Delzangles. The 5-year-old seemed to recognize the Meydan surroundings when he arrived on March 18, DePasquale said, after traveling well from his base at Palm Beach Downs in Florida, and has seemed quite happy to be back. 

Another American runner who has flashed some sass during training at Meydan is Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s Secret Circle (Eddington), winner of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and runner-up in that race last year and a top contender in the $2 million G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen. The Bob Baffert trainee hopped a bit as he came out of the chute on Mar. 23, and exercise rider Dana Barnes tapped him with her stick to keep his mind on business while an accompanying outrider escorted the duo on to the main track. 

Secret Circle proceeded to work a half-mile in :47 and change, as timed by Harty, Baffert’s former assistant, who texted the results to his longtime boss, who will stay home with his two Kentucky Derby favorites, Dortmund (Big Brown) and American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), rather than making the trip to Dubai this year. 
“He went really good,” said Barnes, who will be overseeing Secret Circle for the Dubai Golden Shaheen. “He’s doing great, eating everything in sight.” 

Another eye-catcher over the past few days has been champion Main Sequence (Aldebaran), although not many have seen him as trainer Graham Motion’s assistant Alice Clapham has kept him to Meydan’s secluded all-weather training track as he aims for the $6 million G1 Dubai Sheema Classic. 

Galloping along with his stablemate and G2 Godolphin Mile entrant Quadrivium (Henrythenavigator), Main Sequence has appeared eager yet content, his coat shining in the desert sun. Clapham was smiling and laughing as she guided Main Sequence off the training track on Mar. 22. 

Trainer Graham Motion has arrived in Dubai and was to decide if he would send Main Sequence for a quicker move on Mar. 24 over the training track, Clapham said. 

Other horses who have stood out during morning training over the last few days include some of Japan’s stars, led by Dubai World Cup contender Epiphaneia (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S.), winner of the G1 Japan Cup, and One and Only (Jpn)(Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), winner of the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). 

A pair of 3-year-old Japanese stakes-winning colts by leading American sire Tapit–Golden Barows and Group 1-placed Tap That–also will be carrying the Land of the Rising Sun banner in the UAE Derby and have made a good visual impression on track.