News 
/ Timeform / 29 March 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Royal Delta will take her chance in the Dubai World Cup.
“She's got many things going for her. The one thing we don't know is whether she is good enough..."
There will be a certain sense of symmetry if Royal Delta wins Saturday's Dubai World Cup for her American trainer Bill Mott...
After all, Mott saddled the winner of the inaugural running, two-time American Horse of the Year Cigar, in 1996 and now has Royal Delta striving to be the first filly or mare to triumph in the world's richest race.
The 58-year-old Mott has put a lot of thought into Royal Delta's attempt to enter the Dubai World Cup record books.
Even before Royal Delta was proclaimed America's champion three-year-old filly of 2011, Mott was planning a Dubai assault.
And when Benjamin Leon, who races under Besilu Stables, spent US$8.5 million to buy Royal Delta at auction last November from the estate of her breeder, the late Saudi Prince Saud bin Khaled, Mott shared his vision with the owner.
"As her trainer, I told him up front that the Dubai World Cup would be the perfect place to take her," said Mott, a US Hall of Fame inductee 13 years ago.
"She's got many things going for her. The one thing we don't know is whether she is good enough.
"The distance doesn't seem to be a factor; she's won over 2000m. She's won races on a synthetic track. She's won under the lights and she doesn't need any medication to speak of.
"She's jumped through a lot of the hoops that you have to clear to win here."
After the purchase Leon decided to leave the filly with Mott rather than transfer her to another trainer and it did not take him long to embrace the idea of trying to win the Dubai World Cup.
"He spent a lot of money for her and obviously the filly is a champion. But he's an owner who is clearly willing to take risks. It didn't take much convincing to talk him into it," Mott said.
Royal Delta, the seventh female performer to run in the World Cup, is training with the same enthusiasm she displayed prior to her victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs, according to Mott.
"She's quite determined, and she uses it to her advantage," Mott said.
Royal Delta, rated 124 by Timeform, can currently be backed at [14.5] for the Dubai World Cup with current market leader So You Think trading at [3.4].
The kiwi representation in Saturday's Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (off 06:10 GMT) over 2000m is one of the strongest in recent memory with NZ Derby-winning filly Silent Achiever leading the charge, writes Timeform Australia's Gary Crispe......
With Japanese runners filling the first two places in last year's Dubai World Cup, the country's three representative's in Saturday's $10-million race run over 2000m on Meydan's tapeta surface will be worth serious consideration......
The draw for the Dubai World Cup was made on Wednesday afternoon with ante-post favourite So You Think handed stall number four......
No comments:
Post a Comment