Trainer John Moore has revealed that a trip to Australia for the 2015 Doncaster Mile at Royal Randwick on April 4 is far from confirmed for talented miler Able Friend.
John Moore is hoping to send both Dominant and Sterling City to Australia for the 2015 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival. Photo by: Daniel Costello
It was reported last week that Able Friend’s owner Dr Cornel Li Fook-kwan did not want to send Able Friend to Dubai for the Dubai Duty Free and was considering a tilt at the Group 1 Doncaster Mile for the dominant Hong Kong Mile winner, but Moore told Sky Racing HQ this morning that no decision had been made about the racing future of Able Friend beyond the Group 1 Stewards Cup at Sha Tin on January 25.
“Able Friend, the owner isn’t keen to go in the first instance to Dubai because some horses just don’t seem to come back from that particular trip,” Moore said.
“I haven’t really sat down at length and spoken to Dr who owns Able Friend with respect to possibly running in the Doncaster and we are taking things race by race.
“He will run in the Stewards Cup at the back end of this month and we will just see what transpires.
“If the owner does say that Australia by be the place to go to prove that he is one of the better milers on the planet then we might do it.
“At the moment there is no confirmed booking for him.”
While Able Friend is no certainty to make the trip to Australia for The Championships, Moore confirmed that both Dominant and Sterling City are booked in to make the journey – as long as Canterbury is cleared to serve as a quarantine facility.
2013 Hong Kong Vase winner Dominant is set to contest both the Group 1 The BMW (2400m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 28 and the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) at Royal Randwick on April 11, while the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on April 4 and the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben during the 2015 Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival are both on the agenda for Sterling City.
“Dominant is booked to travel on the second of March down to Sydney to Canterbury, which I hope gets the green light because everything depends on it being given a green light as the quarantine station,” Moore said.
“Sterling City has not been the same horse since he came back to Dubai when he won the Shaheen and he is a likely participant in the T.J. Smith and whether he goes up to Brisbane is still to be decided.”
