With Super Saturday at Meydan done and completed, Godolphin coach Charlie Appleby has begun drawing up battle plans for Dubai World Cup day on March 26, with hero Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf ( G1T) Yibir set to lead the charge in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1).
Yibir has wintered in Newmarket but is expected to arrive in Dubai this week and will begin his year on the biggest day of the racing calendar in the United Arab Emirates.
Appleby has considered running stable improvement Manobo in Sheema but, with Yibir pleasing his coach in England, Manobo will instead win the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) on the same card.
“Currently, Manobo is aiming for the Dubai Gold Cup,” said Appleby. “We toyed with giving him a run in the City of Gold (on Super Saturday) with the potential to see the Sheema Classic, but we’ve got Yibir on the right track at the moment for Sheema.
“If he turns out to be fit and good, then we’ll keep them separate and Manobo will head towards the Gold Cup.”
While Yibir is based at Appleby’s Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket, Manobo has been enjoying Dubai’s sunshine throughout the winter and showing his health as he easily won the Nad Al Sheba do Dp World Uae (G3) trophy. presented at Meydan last month, lifting his record to a perfect fifth from five.
Speaking from Dubai, Appleby added: “Manobo is in Dubai but Creative force and Yibir will be shipped next week. They have a long summer ahead of them so I don’t want to campaign them out here in any testing, I want to get them straight out for World Cup night.
“They’re hitting every target back home, shipping this week, and then, if all goes well, they’ll come out on World Cup night in good form but very much with the season ahead.”
Creative Force, October’s QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes (G1) winner, could have his job cut ahead of his steady teammate and impressive goalscorer in Super Saturday Man of Promise when the pair clashed in the Al Quoz Sprint (G1).
“William Buick says if Man of Promise can do the same thing in three weeks’ time, you can trade with a potential Al Quoz winner. For Creative Force, Al Quoz is the starting point,” Appleby said. and he hopes to go on to the Diamond Jubilee (G1).”
Appleby is on the cusp of a potentially seismic season in Europe, with the young taking the lead last year Indigenous trails, Coroebus and Modern game on the Guineas trail and Classic winner Adayar and Storm lane Get ready to lead a team of exciting older horses into group 1 battle.
“They’ve all had a good winter and are stepping up their work,” the coach said. “They’re ticking every box at the moment but I’m very conscious that you never know what the weather will be like in March.
“We’ve had a very mild winter in England and things are going very well at the moment, but you can get caught up in a false sense of security, and then suddenly Cheltenham comes in and you’re in a thick layer of snow. !
“None of those horses were shipped to Dubai — I purposely let them back (in Newmarket) because we have enough crews here that are busy, and it makes a lot of sense to let the That horse returned to England this year.”
