Racehorse ownership is a tricky business but Peter and Tracy Birbeck have hit beginners’ luck.
Calder Prince is the first horse the husband and wife team has owned and the unbeaten colt lines up in the UAE 2,000 Guineas Trial at Meydan on Thursday against the might of Godolphin.
The three-year-old grey is unbeaten in two starts in Britain, and will be trainer Tom Dascombe’s first runner in Dubai since the ill-fated Brown Panther won the Dubai Gold Cup for former England striker Michael Owen in March.
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The Birbecks own CalderPrint, a printing business in Burnley in the north of England, that boasts 70 staff and they bought Calder Prince for €30,000 (Dh119,400) at the Tattersalls sales in Ireland.
Calder Prince’s two wins have yielded £11,644 (Dh61,500) so far in prize-money and with US$75,000 (Dh275,400) on offer tomorrow the owners could recoup their investment at a stroke.
Calder Prince’s final run in Britain was in November on the artificial surface of Chelmsford and Dascombe envisages no issues with the dirt of Dubai.
“He has done one piece of work on the dirt since he arrived last month and I don’t think the surface will be a problem,” the trainer said.
“What I’m more worried about is whether he is the best horse in the race or not. He is a late season foal, so only got going late on in England last year. He is fit and ready.”
Calder Prince is by Dark Angel, the same sire who produced Steady Pace, one of the two Godolphin runners in the 1,400-metre event.
Steady Pace is trained by Saeed bin Suroor, who suffered a rare blank on the opening night of the Dubai World Cup Carnival last week from four runners.
Steady Pace could not quite mix it with the best over 1,200-metres in England last season, and looks the Dubai-based operation’s first string ahead of Charlie Appleby’s Rouleau. It will be the first start on dirt for both horses.
Whoever wins is unlikely to have to worry about Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook’s Special Season in the UAE 2,000 Guineas proper on February 11.
Special Season was on course for the colt’s Classic after decent performances on the all-weather but was beaten in a Conditions race at Lingfield in England on Tuesday.
Ridden by Pat Cosgrave, he had no answer to Honbre Rio, who looks set to remain in Britain. Lazzam, who was also entered for the Dubai World Cup Carnival, was third.
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