Headline acts Sepoy and Helmet will compete on World Cup night in March but a few of their Australian stablemates will be headed to Dubai even earlier.
Trainer Peter Snowden is waiting to hear which horses will depart his care to join the Godolphin arm of Sheikh Mohammed’s operation for the Dubai carnival which kicks off in January.
Among them is four-year-old Scarf who was a notable absentee from Saturday’s Listed Festival Stakes in Sydney.
“We’ve got a few more horses going early in January,” Snowden said.
“Which ones we are not quite sure yet, they are going to let us know in the next couple of weeks which ones they will be.”
Snowden said the horses would be heading for ratings type races during the Dubai World Cup carnival, which starts on January 5 and runs through until the World Cup meeting on March 31.
“The races in Dubai start in January. There will be no big names, a horse like Scarf has been mentioned so he may go,” Snowden said, adding that was the reason Scarf was not heading towards the Villiers on December 17.
Scarf has won six of his 13 starts including the Listed Winter Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in July.
Snowden will not be training the latest horses set to depart to Godolphin from the Darley team, but he has been given the opportunity to prepare Sepoy and Helmet for their assignments on World Cup night on March 31.
Sepoy is being set for the Golden Shaheen (1200m) on World Cup night while Helmet will be aimed at the UAE Derby (1900m).
AAP TURF
