Animal Kingdom to prove his fitness in the Tampa Bay Downs before heading to the Dubai World Cup
Graham Motion trained 4-year-old colt, Animal Kingdom, is progressing nicely toward his first start in 8 months, which is to come in his first stakes race called the Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, going over a distance of 1 1/16 mile on turf
on 25 February, 2012, against 4-year-old and above males.
The 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner’s ultimate goal for his 2012 campaign is to run in the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup, held at the Meydan over the venue’s synthetic surface at about 1 ¼ miles on 31 March, 2012, and the Tampa Bay Stakes
will actually serve as a prep race for the World Cup.
The Team Valor International owned, Animal Kingdom, worked at Palm Meadows on 8 February ahead of his initial start of the new campaign, where he breezed 5 furlongs in 1 minute and 1.05 seconds.
The Graham Motion trainee actually went on to work 6 furlongs in 1 minute and 14 seconds.
"Animal Kingdom went five-eighths on a rain-softened course with the dogs out about 4 to 5 horse widths," Irwin said. "Badleroibrown, a horse that had never been outworked until he breezed last week with Animal Kingdom, again was the workmate. He broke
off nine lengths in front of Animal Kingdom, who made up the deficit by the time the pair straightened out for home. Animal Kingdom was under snug restraint from the top of the lane to the finish, coming in half a length to the good.”
His work was broken down into fractions, as he covered three-quarters in 1 minute and 14 1/5 seconds on a wet track.
Graham Motion explained Animal Kingdom’s entry in the Tampa Bay Stakes ahead of the Dubai World Cup saying, they have 5 weeks to go after running in the Tampa Bay Stakes, and gives Animal Kingdom ample time to prepare for the World Cup and it will
be an opportunity to assess the colt over his first race after a long layoff.
Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor was excited over Animal Kingdom’s routine works, and said that he is working like a wild horse, and no matter how many lengths he has to cover, he goes and covers the distance. Looks like Animal Kingdom is hungry
for a race, whether Tampa Bay Stakes will satisfy his appetite is yet to be seen.
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