Co-trainer Paul Snowden has revealed that Pride Of Dubai is no certainty to contest the 2015 Golden Rose Stakes and could start his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign in Melbourne.
The Caulfield Guineas remains the major 2015 Spring Racing Carnival target for Pride Of Dubai. Photo by: Steve Hart
Pride Of Dubai was originally set to contest the Group 2 The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on August 29, the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 12 and the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 26 before making the trip to Melbourne for the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m), but Snowden told Racing Ahead that the stable was currently treading water with the son of Street Cry and they could elect to skip the Golden Rose altogether in order to focus on the Caulfield Guineas.
“He is coming along nicely,” Snowden said.
“There were only two options for him – he either runs with set weights and penalties and carries 60 kilos like Vancouver does on Saturday or we go to Melbourne for those set weights races.
“We have opted just to tread a little bit of water with him and maybe next Monday we will see him trial.
“He has been in work for a hell of a long time and he has a good grounding behind him, he is jumping out of his skin the horse and he looks in great order.
“We might even go straight to Melbourne and we will see where he is at after he trials and make a decision after that.
“It could (rule out the Golden Rose), if he was going to do so we would probably need to get a couple of runs into him for a Golden Rose.
“We didn’t want to go to Melbourne too soon because 9 times out of 10 you won’t get away with too many trips down there.
“We will see what happens.”
While Snowden is unsure what path Pride Of Dubai will follow during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival, he remains happy with the physical condition of the three-year-old ahead of his return to racing.
Snowden has always been adamant that Pride Of Dubai would be an even better horse as a three-year-old and he hopes that the colt can now produce a professional performance after doing things wrong in both the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) and the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes (1400m).
“He has always had a great attitude and he hasn’t changed at all,” Snowden said.
“He is effortless in what he does and it is all so easy.
“He has never been to the races and done a polished performance yet, he has always done things wrong and still got away from it.
“If we see the real deal on race day, there is still a lot of improvement in front of the horse.”
Pride Of Dubai is currently available at 2015 Caulfield Guineas odds of $7 and he is on the second line of betting behind Vancouver ($3.75).
