It is highly unlikely that Almanzor will ever make it out to the UAE, but there are those who raced in his shadow and earlier on British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday who could make the winter trip to Meydan.
Almanzor and Found drew clear of Godolphin’s Jack Hobbs in the Champion Stakes’s closing stages. Jack Hobbs had not raced since April, when he suffered a stress fracture to his pelvis, but he marked a fine return to be just under two lengths off Found who had previously won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
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Jack Hobbs, who was also third in last season’s Champion Stakes, would prefer to be racing over 2,400 metres rather than Saturday’s 2000 metres.
“I’m thrilled — he’s finished behind the best three-year-old colt in Europe and the Arc winner,” trainer John Gosden said. “He’s run a great race. The mile and a half of the Dubai Sheema Classic is our plan.”
Sheikhzayedroad finished eighth of nine in the Dubai Sheema Classic on World Cup night in March, but the seven-year-old son of Dubawi will be campaigned with the Dubai Gold Cup in mind following his Long Distance Cup victory.
Sheikhzayedroad outstayed Quest For More, who had previously won the Prix Cadran at the Arc meeting two weeks beforehand, and the two are set to renew their rivalry at Meydan.
“I made a mistake last season by wanting to run him in the Sheema Classic,” owner Mohammed Jaber said. “This time he will run in the Nad Al Sheba Trophy before going for the staying race.”
Growl was a fast-finishing runner-up to The Tin Man in the British Champions Sprint Stakes and trainer Richard Fahey suggested the new Al Quoz Sprint over 1,200 metres could be a target for the four year old.
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