Bhupat Seemar has taken an easier route for his Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River's first run of the season after scooping the $12 million prize last March.
The Zabeel Stables trainer has the seven-year-old son of Into Mischief lined up in the Group 3 Firebreak Stakes run over the 1,600-metre trip in the Fashion Friday Dubai Carnival meeting at Meydan on Friday.
It was a similar race, the Group 3 Burj Nahar over the trip and track, that had his Saudi Arabian owners promptly supplementing him for the World Cup.
The plan this time around is to have a go at the $20 million Saudi Cup in February and a title defence back in Dubai in April.
“In my opinion, it’s always better to start shorter and build up. I didn’t want to train him for ten furlongs (2,000m) now as that’s a lot of extra work,” Seemar explained.
“Our goal is the Saudi Cup and the Dubai World Cup, so this is just a prep. He’s ready for it, he’s doing very, very well. He’s as fit as he can be without having had a race.”
Laurel River is ideally drawn in gate 4 and takes on nine others including a couple of winners over the track and trip in their last starts – Meshtri and Crown Estate.
The Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 is the official feature of the meeting, and it has drawn 12 entries including last year’s winner Kabirkhan.
The Doug Watson-trained five-year-old by the 2016 Dubai World Cup winner California Chrome won twice at Meydan before being unplaced in the Dubai World Cup last March.
He spent the summer in the US and is back in Dubai to be reunited with Watson, who said: “The team at WinStar Farm did a really good job with him over the summer. He seems a bit stronger this year. We’re looking forward to him.”
An interesting runner in the race is the Group 1 Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval being tried for the first time on dirt.
“Connections were keen to run him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but I was not so tempted and thought the QEII [second to Charyn] was a better race for him,” his handler Jerome Reynier said.
“The plan was to send him to Dubai for the winter and try him on dirt before the big race (Saudi Cup). He’s training really well on the surface, but it will be a very different scenario with the rhythm and the kick-back and everything.
“If he copes with conditions he will go for the Saudi Cup and the Dubai World Cup, but if he’s not in the first three he’ll go for the Singspiel Stakes on Super Saturday and then the Dubai Turf.”
Imperial Emperor, two from two for owners Deva Racing and since switching to the Meydan dirt, takes a notable step up in grade here.
“He’s up in distance and class,” said Seemar, who also runs the impressive Listed Entisar winner Walk Of Stars.
“It’s unknown territory as he’s only gone a mile before for us. He’s improved every run and taken to the dirt like a duck to water.
“We’ve come through the handicap ranks and we’re going in a big race now. He’ll have to get his big boy pants on and prove he can do it. From this race onwards, we’ll find out if he’s a World Cup horse or not."
