Benbatl To Go Onwards To Europe
Saeed bin Suroor confirmed that trainee Benbatl will not be able to defend his championship in this year’s Gr.1 Dubai Turf and will instead be pointing to a European campaign for Godolphin.
While Bin Suroor will not have his star turf runner, he has a more than capable back-up in Dream Castle, who has tread a similar path and is training extremely. The son of the great Frankel already won the same two preps Benbatl did in 2018. He is now preparing for the final C&D prep before Dubai World Cup day.
“Like Best Solution, Benbatl had a very hard season last year, running from January until November,” Bin Suroor explained. “We will try to keep him fresh for the European season and he will miss the Dubai Turf, but we have Dream Castle, who is doing very well. We will prepare him for the Jebel Hatta and Dubai Turf and he will try to do what we did with Benbatl did last year.
“They are very similar horses,” he continued. “Dream Castle has improved this year. He is not as keen in the race and he likes the nine-furlong distance. Physically, he has looked very good and mentally he has changed for the better. He shows a lot of class in the mornings.”
Fifth in the classic 2000 Guineas (G1) in May 2017 in his third start, the highly regarded charge had not won in nearly 22 months when taking both of his starts this year. He is now 2-for-2 since being gelded and teamed with Christophe Soumillon.
Curated from a press release by Dubai Racing Club