Al Shaqab Racing's Mshawish (Medaglia d'Oro) was confirmed on target for a start on Dubai World Cup night Sunday, a day after winning the GI Donn H. at Gulfstream Park. The 6-year-old, now a Grade I winner on both dirt and turf, could start in either the G1 Dubai World Cup or the G1 Dubai Turf, in which he was third last year.
“I'll talk to Brad Weisbord and Harry Herbert and all the guys at Al Shaqab, but I would think the World Cup would be very, very high on the radar,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I think everyone's initial impression right after the race was to hopefully go to the World Cup, but we'll assess everything like how he comes out of it and how he trains. Right now the plan is hopefully to go forward to the World Cup.”
Pletcher is keeping all options open for Tommy Macho (Macho Uno) and Stanford (Malibu Moon), one-two in Saturday's GIII Fred Hooper S.
“I thought both of them ran very well and we'll kind of assess things,” Pletcher said. “I think both horses are in a position to potentially come back at a mile or even run further. We'll kind of survey the whole scene and see what makes the most sense.”
Another Al Shaqab graded stakes winner on the turf will try to transition to the main track, Pletcher said. Sandiva (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) is expected to make her dirt debut in next Saturday's GII Royal Delta S.
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