Derby Winner Animal Kingdom Headed to Dubai World Cup
- By A.J. Ryder on January 2, 2012 17:17 GMT
With an eye firmly-fixed on the world's largest prize on March 31st, Team Valor have confirmed speculation that Animal Kingdom would head towards the Dubai World Cup. The versatile runner, who became the first Kentucky Derby winner to win without racing on a dirt surface prior to the first Saturday in May, is pushing forward with an ambitious campaign that will make up for being knocked off the three-year-old Trail after suffering injury in the 2011 Belmont Stakes – a race made famous by him nearly tossing John Velasquez head over heels coming out of the gate over a sloppy Belmont surface.
CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE BET WITH BET365!
He is currently back in training, and looking very sharp according to conditioner H. Graham Motion, with a lengthy session at Fair Hill in Maryland giving the colt the type of quality workouts one requires when coming back from injury.
The tentative plan includes a prep race at Gulfstream if connections can find a spot early on in the year while a back-up plan involves a seasonal debut in Dubai with the next race being the Dubai World Cup. It was made clear that the 2012 Dubai World Cup would not be uses as a seasonal debut for the four-year-old son of Leroidesanimeaux.
"Ideally, I'd like to be able to run him in a race like the Gulfstream Park Handicap on February 11, but if he fails to make that race, we always have the option of sending him over to Dubai early and giving him a race over there."
According to Motion, Animal Kingdom has gained a significant amount of mass during his time on the sidelines and will look to become one of the few to win Grade 1 contests on different surfaces on different continents. Motion declared, "it's all up to the colt and how quickly he gets himself into shape," Motion said. "He is a big horse and he grew during his layoff."
A number of talented global superstars will be competing in the 2012 Dubai World Cup and Animal Kingdom will be forced to tackle some of the best-qualified middle-distance contenders anywhere.
Team Valor is an ambitious racing outfit and they have plenty of talent at their disposal – as well as large cash resources to compete with the sheikhs and sultans they'll be facing off against as owners. Several other American runners are expected to make an appearance in Dubai though no real confirmations or ante post markets have been made as of yet.
