Dubai plans for Albert The Fat have been shelved with trainer Chris Waller setting the Emirates Stakes winner for a Sydney Group One autumn double.
Albert The Fat was anointed as a spearhead of a team Waller was hoping to assemble to campaign in Dubai from early next year.
But Waller said the stable’s efforts to have runners during the three-month Dubai World Cup carnival were hamstrung because of its timing.
“The fact that it’s right bang in the middle of our autumn carnival makes it a difficult exercise,” Waller told AAP.
“It would be great if it was June or July but it’s not.
“And if you are chasing the big races in Sydney and you’ve young horses you need all your resources on the ground here.”
Waller first flagged Dubai ambitions after Albert The Fat scored a last-stride win in the Group One Emirates Stakes at Flemington last month.
His plans seemed to gain traction when an elevated temperature ruled Albert The Fat out of a trip to Perth for the Railway Stakes, making a Dubai campaign a serious option.
The Dubai carnival culminates in World Cup night when Waller was hoping to set Albert The Fat for the $US5 million Dubai Duty Free – a turf race over 1800m won in 2005 by Elvstroem.
“I haven’t discounted taking one horse over there in the future but at this stage it is unlikely that we would take a team,” he said.
Albert The Fat will now be set for the George Ryder Stakes-Doncaster Mile double during the Sydney autumn carnival.
Waller’s decision to scrap Dubai may not be the end of his overseas ambitions for the early part of 2012.
The Rosehill trainer has nominated 11 horses for the Group One Auckland Cup (3200m) at Ellerslie on March 7.
Confirming the wealth of staying talent Waller has at his disposal in his premiership-winning Rosehill stable, his nominations include Saturday’s Christmas Cup runner Strike One and this year’s Sydney Cup winner Stand To Gain.
Waller hasn’t had a runner in his native New Zealand since he made a permanent move to Australia a decade ago.
“It would be nice to take a horse back to win a major race,” he said.
Meanwhile, a start in the Group One Railway Stakes at Ellerslie next month for Tromso is no longer on the sprinter’s summer agenda.
Tromso is an acceptor for a seven-day back-up in the De Bortoli Wines Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
The five-year-old was among the tailenders in last week’s Festival Stakes.
Strike One and Tromso are among nine Waller acceptors for Rosehill as he tries to at least maintain a 10-win lead over Peter Snowden in this season’s Sydney trainers’ premiership.
AAP TURF
