 Victory Moon, the third
favourite for next Saturday's $6million Dubai World Cup, continued his
preparation for the world's richest race with a solid performance at Nad Al
Sheba yesterday morning.
Mike de Kock's runner, who has won two legs of
the prestigious Maktoum Challenge series in Dubai, was put through his paces
over 1,200 metres on the inner turf track.The 2003 UAE Derby
winner covered the distance in 1minute 15.76seconds and the final 400 metres in
25.34s.
After the work De Kock gave an upbeat bulletin on the horse. "It
went well and I'm very happy with him. He's very fit at the moment."
The trainer also
revealed that Victory Moon, a third favourite behind the American contenders
Pleasantly Perfect and Medaglia d'Oro, would do his final piece of fast work two
day's before the World Cup.
"I don't want to put too much work into him
at the moment. He's coming off a winning streak and he's in good condition,"
said De Kock.
"I'll probably give him a sprint up on Thursday, just to
keep him ticking."
Commenting on the American runner, who enjoy
favouritisim ahead of his horse, De Kock said: "I've seen the American horses
and they really look like nice horses and I'm sure it's going to be a very good
race. I'm looking forward to it."
De Kock's recent winner Right Approach,
who runs in the $2million Dubai Duty Free (Gr I), worked with his stable
companion Surveyor, who also runs in the race.
Surveyor was the winner of
the BurJuman Jebel Hatta (Gr III) over the Dubai Duty Free trip of 1,777 metres
on the turf, a race that the de Kock-trained Ipi Tombe won en route to Dubai
Duty Free glory last year.
Right Approach and Surveyor worked over 1,000
metres on the turf in a time of 1:04.55 second and 24.04s for the last 200
metres. De Kock's final horse on the turf was Lundy's Liability, who runs in the
$2,000,000 UAE Derby (Gr.II). The three-year-old colt worked over 1,200 metres
in 1m 19.73s and the last 400 metres in 24.20s.
The impressive looking
Pleasantly Perfect, Richard Mandella's Dubai World Cup hope, had a steady canter
on the main track.
Mandella is due to arrive in Dubai today and will
watch his Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr.I) winner work.
Kenneth McPeek's Hard
Buck, a runner in the $2million Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr I) over 2,400 metres on
the turf, had a steady canter on the main track.
Hard Buck, a recent
Grade One winner at Gulfstream Park, is scheduled to work on Saturday morning
and will have Seb Sanders in the saddle. |
