Dubai: Spurred on by Gloria De Campeao's fairytale victory in the $10 million (Dh36.78 million) Dubai World Cup in March, Brazilian trainer Eduardo Martins has embarked on an ambitious mission where he is targeting the riches at this year's Dubai International Racing Carnival.
Martins is armed with a relatively strong arsenal of Brazilian-bred horses, and although the results achieved to date have been less than satisfactory, he remains supremely confident and motivated.
"Perhaps we have not have had the success we wanted in Dubai but we were aware of the challenges," said Martins whose lone winner of the campaign is Sharjah scorer Energia Cintilante.
"We had some very good meetings with Mr Friborg, (who owns Gloria De Campeao), and have been planning well and looking at all possibilities. Now we are looking to the horses to deliver, and I'm confident that they can.
"We have brought some very good horses with us, most of them from Mr. Friborg's Estrela Energia Stables, with a grey horse called Hot Six being our main hope. His target is the Dubai World Cup."
Martins is no stranger to Dubai, having previously worked with John Hyde at the Dubai Stable before assisting top Brazilian trainer Cintra Pereira, saddled several winners at last year's Carnival.
High on agenda
Now handling his own string for Stefan Friborg, the Swedish-born Brazilian-based owner of the Estrela Energia Stables, Martins has set his hopes high.
"We came here with the Carnival and Dubai World Cup meeting high on our agenda," said Martins, who has previously worked with Ralph Beckett and Kevin Ryan in Britain. "Possibly the horses have yet to fully acclimatise to the conditions here, having spent three months in quarantine in Chantilly, France. But they are getting there.
"We had our first winner at Sharjah with Energia Cintilante while Energia Central has run two good races at Meydan. Tequila Heights is a nice horse who was third in his first outing on the all-weather over the World Cup distance (2,000 metres). We also hope Energia Colonial can be a Guineas horse."
Hot Six won the Group 1 Gran Premio Asociacion Latinomericana de Jockey Clubes e Hipodromos at Sao Paulo's Cidade Jardim racecourse in Brazil and is being aimed at the Maktoum Challenge for his much-anticipated UAE debut.
"He's a horse with plenty of ability who I think will go well on the Tapeta at Meydan," revealed Martins. "Obviously he is our big hope and we are really looking forward to running him.
"He travelled well from France and has settled down nicely in his barn at the Dubai World Cup quarantine centre."
Hot Six was campaigned extensively in Group race company when trained by Pascal Bary in France and finished 15th behind Sea The Stars in a close run at Arc de Triomphe in October last year. Martins recalled Friborg's contribution to Dubai racing's international appeal after his Brazilian-bred Sushi Bar became the first Brazilian-bred horse to win at the Carnival in 2005. That landmark win acted as a catalyst for South American horses who are now a permanent fixture at the event that leads up to the Dubai World Cup.
