Sharp Azteca on his Toes Heading into Godolphin Mile
Sharp Azteca (USA) bounced onto the main track just after 7am and jogged twice around in preparation for the Group 2 US $1 million Godolphin Mile.
“It was an easy morning,” said trainer Jorge Navarro. “I overslept and when I got to the barn at 6.15am they were already walking him. I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re supposed to wait for me!’ And they said, ‘No, Jorge, we had to take him out, he was on his toes.’”
Navarro said of his draw in stall six: “The jockey (Edgar Zayas) was the one who texted me and told me we got number six and that’s exactly the one he wanted. But he’s so ready it doesn’t matter anyway. We’ve done everything right and he’s done everything right; it’s all up to him now.”
Navarro nearly won on the card last year when X Y Jet led the Dubai Golden Shaheen sponsored by Gulf News with less than 100m remaining but was caught in the final strides.
“This is a cleaner horse,” Navarro said by way of comparison. “X Y Jet had issues and we had to baby him but this horse we can really train him how we need to.”
North America's (GB) jockey Richard Mullen said: “He is an exciting horse and the whole team are really looking forward to Saturday. Drawn seven is not the end of the world and, with a bit of luck in running, he should be very competitive.”
For Le Bernardin (USA), jockey Tadhg O’Shea said: “These are his optimum conditions as he has shown winning Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 twice. The draw is good and he seems in great shape so should run well.”
Jockey Adrie de Vries said of Stormardal (IRE): “He needed his Super Saturday run, after a setback in his prep, so we were pleased with him but we would have preferred a lower draw on Saturday.”
Following a day spent at the Quarantine yard after he had worked on Sunday, Ross (IRE) was back out on the training track on Tuesday morning. Ridden by Patrick Gibson, he was very relaxed as he cantered once round the track and his rider confirmed: “He is in great form. He feels fresh and I’m happy with him.”
Of Gifted Master (IRE), Miguel Clement, pupil assistant to Hugo Palmer, said: “He just did his usual round canter on the main track. He did quite an aggressive piece of work last Wednesday so we’ve just been keeping him ticking over.”
Kafuji Take (JPN) cantered one lap over the dirt course. Assistant trainer Hirofumi Yamamoto said: "He was in a good mood and moving well and there was no schooling today. Tomorrow he will have a gate schooling with the jockey (Yuichi Fukunaga) after work probably. The jockey said he wanted to be there for it. The dirt feels very soft with a good cushion when compared to the dirt in Japan."
Source: Dubai Racing Club