Meydan and Melbourne may be 7,000 miles apart but such distances are easily travelled by racehorses nowadays in pursuit of valuable and prestigious prizes.
In winning the Land Rover-sponsored two-mile handicap at the Dubai Carnival on Thursday evening, Saeed Bel Obaida’s five-year-old gelding, Prince Of Arran, has ticked another box en route to that goal.
In a hugely exciting race, which depicted jockey James Doyle at his strongest, he was settled just behind the pace looking very happy. Los Barbados, his conqueror here three weeks ago, led for a long way with Saeed Bin Surour’s Red Galileo taking it up six furlongs out and Doyle still waiting in the wings till making what looked a certain winning sweep with a furlong to go.
But both Adrie De Vries [2nd] and Gerald Mosse [3rd] were not going to lie down too easily and fought back in a seat-gripping three-way tussle with Doyle getting the accolades up on the outside. A gallant effort but we may well see this son of Schirocco being produced even later next time! The final verdict, just a short head and a nose dividing the first three home.
Winning trainer Charlie Fellowes, who was breaking his Dubai maiden — first win — said after: “James felt he put the brakes on when he hit the front and it may not hurt to put some cheek-pieces on him.
“He is tough and has done it well. James is a fantastic jockey and when I knew he was available it was a pretty easy decision to make.
“To have a winner like this in this fantastic setting is great. He has got to be invited to the Dubai Gold Cup and I’m hoping he will be as that’s the aim,” said the Newmarket-based handler.
“We will see how he returns from this and may likely run again before World Cup night.”
Charlie Fellowes has made a habit of keeping himself in the best company on his journey to become a trainer. Being assistant in Australia to Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman must be high on his CV and of equal high calibre will be his similar position in the all-conquering stable of National Hunt trainer Nicky Henderson in Lambourn, Berkshire. Fellowes’ cake was duly iced with a five-year stint at the historic Pegasus Stables in Newmarket, home to the immensely successful husband-and-wife team of James and Jacko Fanshawe. What a list of horsemen to be tutored by.
The year 2014 saw the newly licensed trainer send out his first runner — a winner — and he topped off his freshman year with a trip Stateside taking two-year-old Wet Sail to Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf. While that was maybe flying a bit high, it is this type of ambitious drive that differentiates the great from the good in all walks of life.
Remember the name Charlie Fellowes for the future, particularly the first Tuesday in November.
‘The Race That Stops The Nation,’ the Melbourne Cup, is a possible long-term target for his pretty bay horse Prince of Arran. Lofty ambitions indeed but not without justification.
Having been campaigned at Group 1 and 2 level last season in England, he undoubtedly appreciated the drop in grade to a handicap on his first run here in Dubai where he preformed with a degree of alacrity coming back from a three-month break to finish second to EERC’s Los Barbados.
Former jockey Natasha Eaton, who is in charge of his wellbeing out here said: “He is bubbly and bouncing each morning.” All signs of a horse that is thriving here in the clement sunshine of Dubai. And Eaton is doing an admirable job worthy of the trust placed in her.
Speaking about his Dubai Gold Cup hopes, Fellowes said: “He has always been a quirky horse and because of that there was a little bit of doubt whether or not it was right to send him over here [Dubai], if it did not work out, it was going to look like a silly decision.
“But I had a gut feeling he would enjoy it out here. It was a really good first run, the track and the fast ground were always going to suit him, it was all about how he took to the trip.
“Thankfully, he has thrived and seems to be getting stronger and stronger.”
Being a horse who likes to skip across a quick racing surface, the wet English summer is against him — his best run last year being a good second in the Group 3 Longines Sagaro Stakes in one of the few two-mile races held at Ascot.
Although, as only a four-year-old, he was no match for the gallant Big Orange in the Royal Ascot Gold Cup, he looks like developing into a classy staying campaigner and it is likely that he will accumulate plenty of air miles this year.
Roll on World Cup Night.
— The author is a former trainer and mother of leading jockeys, Sophie and James Doyle.
