Dundonnell pushes on, Fabulous One drops out after Super Saturday at Meydan

04/03/2017

By Andrew Hawkins in Dubai

It was a night of mixed emotions and results for Hong Kong at Dubai’s Super Saturday meeting and the future holds contrasting paths for representatives Dundonnell and Fabulous One after their respective runs on Saturday night (4 March) at Meydan.

Caspar Fownes-trained Dundonnell finished third in the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal (1200m), all but booking a ticket for Dubai World Cup night on 25 March, while Chris So’s Fabulous One weakened into 10th in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (1200m) and is likely to return to Hong Kong before the big dance.

Dundonnell was the first of the Hong Kong horses to step out, tackling eight rivals in the Mahab Al Shimaal. Sweating up noticeably pre-race and reluctant to enter the starting stalls, the Caspar Fownes-trained gelding missed the break slightly from gate two and was ridden vigorously early by Belgian ace Christophe Soumillon.

He was able to retain the rail as he sat second on the fence with eventual winner, Dhruba Selvaratnam’s Morawij, leading to his outside. Turning for home, Dundonnell was quickly under pressure and never looked like getting the better of Morawij, but he stuck to his guns, chasing valiantly and holding on for third. Doug Watson’s G3 Al Shindagha Sprint (1200m) winner Cool Cowboy made significant late ground to snatch second late.

At first, a visibly deflated Fownes said that he had expected more from his seven-year-old, but he was more confident about the bay’s future prospects after a post-race conference with Soumillon.

“He hasn’t got beaten far but for me, I still felt it was a little bit disappointing,” Fownes said in the moments after the horse crossed the wire, a length and a quarter from Morawij. “I thought he could pick up and run through the line a little better. I’ll just scope him and make sure there’s no mucus or anything, cover all bases first and we will see how we are before we make any decisions about what to do from here.

“He sweated up a bit beforehand too, but as I said before the race, he’s a little bit quirky. He’s on and off; last time, he was good. Something just happens to him. Maybe I’ll have to look at a pair of cups (blinkers), although then you run the risk of him standing in the gates even more! But let’s see what Christophe says.”

After speaking to Soumillon, though, Fownes was confident that as long as an invite was forthcoming, the First Defence gelding would push on to the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m) over the same course and distance on 25 March.

“Why not push on, as long as he’s OK? We are here now,” Fownes said. “And the formlines are there, we had 11 pounds back on the horse that beat us last time (Comicas) and we’ve reversed form by almost four lengths. It’s a race I’m going to have to watch a few times again.

“Christophe was happy with the run, though. He said he was a little bit on edge, he was on his back feet at the start and he was slightly slow to begin. That meant he had to use a bit of energy at the beginning that I was hoping he didn’t have to waste. But I wanted the horse to have more experience on that track, the kickback is quite something, and he got that so all being right, we continue on.”

Soumillon added: “If I had jumped with them, I think I’m closer at the finish. It was a good effort for the Golden Shaheen.”

Fownes continued his record of close but no cigar in Dubai, Dundonnell’s third representing the trainer’s fifth top-four finish from eight starters at Meydan. It was also his second Super Saturday placing, following on from Gun Pit’s runner-up finish in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 last year.

“It’s frustrating,” Fownes admitted. “But I’m sure it will come at some point, maybe even in three weeks. We can dream after that.”

The first two across the line, Morawij and Cool Cowboy, are likely to reoppose Dundonnell in the US$2 million Golden Shaheen, should he line up.

Fabulous One’s international campaign appears to be over after he weakened into 10th in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint.

The Elusive City gelding, who failed to handle the left-handed bends when ninth behind Comicas and Dundonnell in a 1200m dirt handicap on 11 February, switched back to the turf for this run, facing 15 opponents in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, the new lead-up to the G1 Al Quoz Sprint (1200m).

The straight course presented problems of its own, though, as the noted front-runner raced keenly in the initial stages under Irishman Oisin Murphy. From gate five, the bay jumped fairly and was among the pacesetters early, even striking the front centre track approaching the 400m, but he was quickly swallowed up by Godolphin runners Jungle Cat and Baccarat, who raced away to a Charlie Appleby-trained quinella. Murphy eased Fabulous One over the concluding stages, finishing nine and a half lengths from Jungle Cat.

However, So was proud of his galloper after the effort, saying that he was glad the owners had afforded him the chance to travel his first horse abroad while all but ruling out any chance of pushing on to the Al Quoz Sprint.

“Actually, I’m quite happy with that run,” a philosophical So said. “He has performed today and I feel that we know where he is at. He jumped well, he got on the speed and he had his chance. I think it didn’t help that he hadn’t run over a straight 1200m before and that was the problem for him – he was too fierce, he couldn’t take a breath and he was looking for the bend. But I was still screaming too, from the angle it looked like he was a chance and that was an amazing feeling.

“I have no complaints for my first time travelling. I don’t think there’s any chance he will get an invite for the Al Quoz Sprint and even if he did, I think we would go back to Hong Kong anyway. But I’m happy that we got two runs out of him here, no matter how he performed. I think he is rated 108 in Hong Kong so there are some Group 3 handicaps that we can look at later in the season and maybe the chance will come to travel him elsewhere.

“I am so grateful to the owners for giving me the chance and for giving the horse a chance. They are a great group of people, some of them were here tonight, and they deserve all the success they get. Hopefully I can get some more for them.”

Fabulous One’s defection leaves Hong Kong’s likely team for the Dubai World Cup meeting at three. John Moore-trained Not Listenin’tome is expected to join Dundonnell in the Golden Shaheen after running in the Class 1 Friendship Bridge Handicap (1000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 March), while John Size’s Amazing Kids will be Hong Kong’s lone Al Quoz Sprint runner.