Hugh Bowman has been booked to ride Pride Of Dubai throughout the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival and he believes that the Street Cry colt could stamp himself as something special when he contests the Golden Rose Stakes and Caulfield Guineas.
Hugh Bowman will ride Pride Of Dubai in races like the Golden Rose Stakes and Caulfield Guineas during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival. Photo by: Steve Hart
Pride Of Dubai is working towards a return to racing in a race like the Group 2 The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on August before he presses on to the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 12, the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 26 and the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on October 10.
The Team Snowden-trained colt was able to record two Group 1 victories as a juvenile, but Bowman believes that the Blue Diamond Stakes winner will be an even better horse as a three-year-old and labelled him the horse that he is most looking forward to riding during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival.
“He won the Blue Diamond of cause and he then came back to Sydney and won the Sires Produce,” Bowman told Racing Ahead.
“I think that he is an outstanding colt and I always felt even from early on that he would make a really nice three-year-old and the fact that he was able to achieve what he did as a two-year-old was a testament to his raw ability.
“If we can get him to a mile in the Golden Rose and the Caulfield Guineas then you could see a special horse this year.”
Pride Of Dubai made his racing debut with Bowman in the saddle when he finished third behind Ottoman and Miss Idyllic in the Place Multi Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on December 20, but Bowman was replaced by Queensland-based hoop Damian Browne for the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) at Caulfield on February 14 and the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at the same venue a week later.
Bowman was gifted the mount back for the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on April 6 and the talented two-year-old was caught wide in the early stages of the race, but he was able to fight home bravely to record a tough win from Odyssey Moon and Rageese.
Pride Of Dubai is currently available at 2015 Caulfield Guineas odds of $6 and is on the second line of betting behind Golden Slipper winner Vancouver ($4).
