Bold Silvano Out of Dubai World Cup

With the world’s richest individual horse race just around the corner, the ante post markets for the Dubai World Cup are getting down to crunch time and a number of punters will be reeling after the withdrawal of Bold Silvano (Silvano).

The Mike De Kock-trained contender had been training regularly up until March 20 when an issue popped up and the horse didn’t look right. Speaking to the Racing Post, De Kock explained, “he worked very well yesterday but seems to have tweaked or pulled something. We cannot actually put our finger on it.”

Bold Silvano has previously bruised a foot at the start of the month and was forced to miss his World Cup prep race.

Bold Silvano was trading as the 7/2 co-favourite when his withdrawal was confirmed. 

The South African conditioner was bullish about Golden Sword (High Chaparral) and his chances for the Group 1 contest, though it is a big step up after coming off a conditions win at Meydan on February 18. The Sheikh Kalifa Al Maktoum-owned five year-old bay has taken to the Tapeta this season and scored a pair of victories at the carnival.

Twice Over (Observatory) has now been clipped down to 7/4 with Ladbrokes and is emerging as the in-form favourite as three of the top five ante post contenders have been forced to withdraw. Both Snow Fairy (Intikhab) and Byword (Peintre Celebre) have been removed from the running.