Irish trainer Edward Lynam cannot wait to get his shock Nunthorpe Stakes winner Sole Power back on the track in the Al Quoz Sprint, the opener on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan on Saturday.
The Kyllachy gelding became only the second 100-1 outsider to land a Group One race in Britain when taking York honours in August.
All eyes will be on him in Dubai when he makes his first appearance since then.
“He’s been a super horse for the stable. He cost STG30,000 ($A48,081) as a foal from the Doncaster sales, and I guess that looks pretty cheap now,” Lynam said.
“It’s been the kind of result that you dream about and lining up as a chance in a race like this on Saturday was never something we would have thought until he did what he did at York.”
Plans to run in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp last October were scrapped because of the unsuitably soft going, leaving the Al Quoz as the logical next step for the County Meath trainer.
“He has wintered well and this race was always going to be the plan because you are guaranteed the fast ground that he loves, and the straight track here is pretty much the same as what he met at York,” Lynam said.
“He goes well fresh. On his first start last year he broke the track record at Dundalk at this distance by over half a second from a good horse called Luisant, so we knew he had serious ability.
“Now everybody knows how good he can be and we’re hoping he can put his best foot forward this weekend.”
PA mfl/gm
