With Dubai becoming higher on the list for champion Black Caviar’s world wide romp, trainer Peter Moody will do some pre-race reconnaissance before the March 31 World Cup meeting.
The Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot in June is still Black Caviar’s major goal but connections are very keen about a stopover in Dubai to compete against top class world opposition.
Black Caviar is stepping up to 1400m for the first time at Caulfield tomorrow in the Group 1 $400,000 Sportingbet C.F. Orr Stakes on her way to eighteen straight wins and Moody is very keen to see how she handles the extra distance.
Moody has arranged to fly to Dubai to inspect the artificial Tapeta surface, which is a mixture of sand, rubber and fibre coated in wax and also see first hand the stabling and trackwork facilities that will be available once the mighty mare arrives at Meydan.
Melbourne’s leading trainer is also keen to see the quarantine facilities and is likely to leave sometime after Black Caviar runs in the Group 1 $500,000 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 25.
Moody still has some concerns about the trip to Dubai, one of which is that his world class race mare will be away from home a long time with the campaign moving onto England for the June carnival.
“The big negative against Dubai is she’s going to be away from home for three or four months.
“She’s going to be away from me, the jockeys, the staff, the vet, the farrier, the chiropractor.
“She’s going to have access to those facilities over there but it’s going to be a different scenario.
“She’s a mare that takes a fair bit of maintenance so that’s a big negative and there are a lot of great races here,” Moody said.
Moody also said if she did go to Dubai for the 1200m Golden Shaheen, Black Caviar would be on a direct flight from Australia and then a direct flight from Dubai to London.
A US and Japan trip are now looking very unlikely as Moody outlined the Breeders Cup in the US had relatively poor prizemoney and the quarantine protocols for a trip to Japan made it difficult.
A clash with Darley’s top three year Sepoy will be a highlight of the $US2 million Golden Shaheen (1200m) at Meydan while Peter Snowden’s other outstanding three year old Helmet is scheduled to run in the $US1 million UAE Derby (1800m) on the same day.
