Dubai: Emirati trainer Musabah Al Muhairi says he is thrilled that Russian Rock, an emphatic winner of the Listed Jebel Ali Sprint earlier this month, has received an invitation to run in the $2 million (Dh7.3 million) Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) on Dubai World Cup night.
Russian Rock completed a historic Listed race hat-trick for Al Muhairi at Jebel Ali Racecourse, following up on stable-mate Treble Jig's victories in the Jebel Ali Mile and Jebel Ali Stakes.
"You can't imagine how thrilled we are that Russin Rock will be headed to the Golden Shaheen," Al Muhairi said yesterday. "He showed how strong a sprinter he is at Jebel Ali and we're hoping that he can do the same at Meydan.
"It will be a very tough race, but anything can happen in a sprint. If everything goes well and he runs his usual race, we believe that he can trouble some of the big sprinters in the race.
Genuine horse
"Obviously it will be a big task for him to step up to Group 1 from a Listed race. But he's a nice genuine horse and we think he has earned his place in the race."
In the Golden Shaheen, Russian Rocket will encounter Kinsale King and Rocket Man, two previous winners of the 1,200m contest, plus the exciting Australian sprinter Sepoy. Al Muhairi also keeping his fingers crossed that Treble Jig can get into the $5m Dubai Sheema Classic (G1), while he's also hopeful of Snaafy, last year's Jebel Ali Mile winner, qualifying for the $1m Godolphin Mile (G2).
"If Trebel Jig runs well at Abu Dhabi on Sunday, there is a chance that he could still make it to the Dubai World Cup meeting," said Al Muhairi. who has saddled 19 winners this season. "He will be up against some top horses like Al Shemali, Anaerobio and Trois Rois, but we're hoping he will run well."
The Abu Dhabi Championship (G3) is run over 2,200m and Al Muhairi says that it will be a perfect prep for the Sheema Classic, provided Trebel Jig runs a big race. "It's been a good season by most standards and it will be nice to have a few runners at the Dubai World Cup meeting. This is what we train for and this is the best part of our job."
