Dubai: English-trained Gitano Hernando continued his impressive build-up to a second crack at the Dubai World Cup (Group 1) by delivering some pleasing work during morning trials at Meydan Racecourse.
A progressive American-bred colt trained by rising Italian handler Marco Botti, Gitano Hernando is being fine-tuned for what his connections hope will be a winning performance in next Saturday's $10 million race (Dh36.7 million).
He caught the eye at the racecourse gallops and looks to have rebounded nicely from his two prep runs in Dubai where he showed improvement from his first start to finish third behind ante-post favourite Twice Over in the final leg of the Maktoum Challenge series on Super Thursday.
Botti, who was on hand to assess Gitano Hernando's performance in both races, was confident that his star will run a big race in eight days time.
"We rushed his programme a bit last season and did not give him a proper prep race to iron out the edges last year," said Botti referring to Gitano Hernando's fifth place finish to Gloria De Campeao twelve months ago.
Prep races
"But this time we are taking it one step at a time and allowing him to tell us what he wants to do. He's had two very good prep races and we've learnt a lot from them. He's come on very strong from one race to another and we're hopeful that he can improve further when he runs in the Dubai World Cup.
"He deserves to compete at the highest level as he is a top class horse. He was only beaten 2 14/ lengths last year by Gloria De Campeao and he's won some top races like the Goodwood Stakes (Group 1), so we know that he can compete for races like the World Cup," Botti added.
"This race has always been his main target and we have planned his 2011 programme around it. We have the option of passing over some other major races to be able to be compete here. We hope it will be worth it."
Evaluating the horses that Gitano will face next Saturday, Botti said: "Obviously a race that carries a purse so big will attract the very best horses in the world.
"But we expect that. There are some very good horses in the race but we have faith in our horse and we're hoping he will show what he is capable of on the day."
First round
Gitano was fifth to former Dubai World Cup favourite Bold Silvano, trained by Mike de Kock, in the first round of the Maktoum Challenge over a mile on the Tapeta and an eye-catching third to Twice Over in round three of the series over the Dubai World Cup distance of 2000 metres, "We're very pleased with him and he did an excellent piece of work last week" said Botti. "He has definitely come on a lot from that first run. We are drawn 11 which is wider than ideal."
Among his main rivals are the Japanese pair of Buena Vista, runner-up in the Dubai Sheema Classic last season and Victoire Pisa.
