John Moore is “very confident” that Not Listenin’tome will show his best in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint (1000m, turf) at Meydan, Dubai on Saturday (26 March) night.
The five-year-old acquainted himself with the turf straight this morning, jumping out from the 1200m start and cantering lightly down the floodlit stretch under work rider Kelvin Wan.
“We took him down to the six furlong chute and let him jump out of the machine, just to focus him that little bit more because he has been up for a while in Hong Kong and I thought I would let him see the straight that he will run down on Saturday night,” said Moore.
“I told his rider to go half a mile and then take a hold of him before he got to the winning post. That was all he needed to do, just to educate him and get him to focus.
“His riding boy said to me he is 200 percent, which is what you want to hear, and from that point of view he is a live chance. He looked a picture of health this morning, he is eating up and he hasn’t dropped a lot of bodyweight getting here.”
Not Listenin’tome heads into the contest off the back of an impressive last start effort in which he conceded 13lb to Dubai Golden Shaheen contender Super Jockey, held that rival by a short-head and won in an impressive time of 55.16s, albeit wind assisted. The Dylan Thomas gelding will break from gate four in Saturday’s 13-runner speed test.
“Peniaphobia has drawn five, so we are beside each other, so we will be tracking the speed. And Ryan Moore being the jockey that he is, and having ridden here a few times, he will know where to be. He will likely come across to the middle part of track – that is where they all came from on Super Saturday.”
Moore is hoping for another overseas venture should Not Listenin’tome perform as expected at the weekend.
“I am very confident he will run well here, and if he runs really well we will consider Royal Ascot, the King’s Stand,” said the handler.
Not Listenin’tome’s jump out occurred a little after 5am. Concurrent to that turf action, G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m, dirt) contenders Super Jockey and Domineer did their usual routines on the dirt track. The Caspar Fownes-trained Domineer maintained his condition with two laps at the canter under Danny Suen. Super Jockey lobbed around for an easy lap and a half under usual work rider Beverly Millard.
“We are taking it quiet with him because when he does his fast work he is like Rambo, he puts a lot into it,” said the rider, wife of trainer Tony Millard.
“He worked fast on the dirt at Sha Tin last Friday and he went on the plane a very fit horse. We have only cantered him early in the mornings on his own all week and he has been very good, very relaxed, and he likes the temperature here as he has quite a dry coat at the moment.
“I rode him leading up to last year’s race when he was beaten a head by a Breeders’ Cup winner [Secret Circle] in second and I’d say he is at least as well this time around. He has also been running in better races at home and his rating is at its highest. Last year he drew gate 12 in this race and nearly won and this time we have gate six, so that is also a positive and it means we can probably be a bit closer in the run.”
Fownes continues to be pleased with the condition of Domineer.
“He is versatile, he is pretty good on the dirt in Hong Kong and he is coming off a good run. I think this surface will suit him and from gate five he has options,” said Hong Kong’s three-time Champion Trainer.
Fownes also has Gun Pit aiming big on Saturday with the US$10 million Dubai World Cup (2000m, dirt) his target. Unbeaten in seven starts at Sha Tin’s dirt track, the Dubawi five-year-old ran second behind Special Fighter in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 at the course and distance earlier this month.
“The track here has a heavier feel to Hong Kong, where it is like an American dirt surface – here it is more of a sandy base, but he ran well on it three weeks ago so we hope he can do it again,” said the trainer.
Gun Pit appeared fit, healthy and relaxed beneath the dawn sunlight as he cantered on the dirt this morning under Suen. The G1 Dubai World Cup hope led Peniaphobia on to the track and Tony Cruz’s Al Quoz Sprint runner also looked in good heart as he cantered the dirt track under work rider Chan Chiu-hin.
Rich Tapestry was once again among the last to stretch out. Michael Chang’s charge moved nicely at the canter under Tommy Wong.
Master Kochanwong did not work on the main track this morning.
“He stayed on the training track and he’ll be at the main track tomorrow,” said trainer David Hall. “The boys were saying he was fairly keen in his work yesterday on the main track and I reckon that’s a positive sign. He is drawn well, you would not want to swap barrier two. There’ll be more horses behind him than in front of him in the run.”
|
Photo 1:
John Moore trained Not Listenin'tome stretched this morning on grass in Dubai before his try in Saturday's Al Quoz Sprint.
|
Photo 2:
Al Quoz Sprint starter Peniaphobia worked on Meydan's dirt track Thursday morning.
|
|
Photo 3:
Hong Kong's chance in the world's richest race, the Dubai World Cup, Gun Pit continued his preparation for trainer Caspar Fownes.
|
Photo 4:
Super Jockey was a pre-dawn visitor to Meydan's dirt track in advance of his second start in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
|
|
Photo 5:
Rich Tapestry goes through his Thursday work on dirt at Meydan before a third try in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
|
Photo 6:
Dubai Golden Shaheen chance Domineer worked on the dirt track Thursday morning at Meydan.
|
