Dubai World Cup: Seeds of hope for Planteur’s connections

Dubai: Planteur, an eye-catching third in last year’s $10 million (Dh36.7 million) Dubai World Cup (G1), pleased his connections when making his return to Meydan’s main track on Tuesday.

Despite only arriving in Dubai on Monday, the six-year-old was one of the first horses to arrive at the course and was given a fast canter around the Tapeta by Lucie Botti, trainer Marco Botti’s wife and assistant.

“He travels well so that’s never been an issue,” Lucie told Gulf News. “Today’s work was pretty much routine, I just wanted him to stretch his legs. But as soon as he arrived at the track he began to stride out.

“We know that he likes the surface at Meydan and nothing seems to have changed since we were here last year. He looks well and we could not be happier with him.

“Marco is expected to be in Dubai on Thursday, after which he will have his final piece of work, just to sharpen him up a bit before the big race on Saturday.”

Lucie pointed out that a lot more thought has been put into planning Planteur’s Dubai World Cup campaign this time around.

“I think the gap between his races is really the key,” she said. “Last year we virtually ran him off the plane and even then he ran a big race to finish third.

“Hopefully we’ve planned it a better this year as he looks well. I couldn’t be happier with him as he really pleased me this morning.”

Lucie acknowledges that Planteur’s prospects 12 months ago might have been compromised by the fact he did not have the benefit of a prep race prior to his run at Meydan. However, the scenario is a little different this time around.

Botti took his charge to Lingfield on February 23, where he put in a spirited effort on the synthetic surface to win the Winter Derby Trial Stakes over 2000m, the World Cup distance.

“I think the Lingfield race has put him spot on for this year’s World Cup,” Lucia said. “He’s had time to recover and freshen up. So we’re hopeful.”

Assessing the field for Saturday’s $10 million contest, she added: “It looks a very strong race, there are some very good horses in it. Obviously Planteur will have to run his best race to have a chance, but we know that he can and we know that he has the class.”

British bookmakers William Hill have Planteur priced at 14/1 behind Royal Delta (4/1), winner of the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), who is contesting the Dubai showpiece for the second successive year. Hunter’s Light, who became Godolphin’s 200th Group One winner when successful in Round Three of the Al Maktoum Challenge on Super Saturday, the local prep race for the Dubai World Cup, is a 9/2 chance, while 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom is at 5/1.