Fly Down and Regally Ready to leave their mark in the 2012 Dubai Carnival
Vinery Stables owned 5-year-old gelding, Regally Ready, is all set to bring in his good form from last year into this year’s second start of the season, which is expected to go underway at the Meydan when the Steven Asmussen trained gelding takes on the
Group 1, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at the Meydan on 31 March, 2012.
Before he goes there, he has time on his hands at Dubai, and Steven Asmussen will utilize that time to the fullest and send his Breeders’ Cup winning horse for a prep race in the $175,000 Meydan Sprint over five furlongs on turf.
The Al Quoz Sprint will be run over a distance of 5 furlongs, and it is restricted for 3-year-old and above males, while the Australian superstar, Black Caviar, is expected to head the sprint on turf.
Being a turf horse, Regally Ready last fall bagged the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs with back to back three grade 3 wins in the same season and also a Grade 1 Nearctic Stakes win at Woodbine.
He started his 2012 campaign brightly by finishing third in the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes at about six and a half furlongs. He finished third in the same race last year as well.
The American contingent at Meydan is led by Regally Ready, but the 5-year-old son of Mineshaft, Fly Down, isn’t far behind him, as he started his 2012 campaign at Saudi Arabia winning the Grade 2 Crown Prince Cup and then finished second in the Grade 1 King’s
Cup, both races were held at Janadriyah race course and both races were run over a distance of 1 ½ miles.
Before starting his 2012 campaign, Fly Down participated last in the 2011 edition of the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup March last year, and finished a distant 13th to winner Victoire Pisa.
When he was trained by Zito in the United States, Fly Down won the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes, finished second in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and 3rd in the Breeders’ Cup Classic behind Blame and Zenyatta. All these
races were held in 2010.
Both these runners are set to make a huge impact at the Meydan this year, with Fly Down pointed toward the $400,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, which is a prep race for the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup ran over the Tapeta synthetic surface at about
1 ¼ miles.
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