Bur Dubai will begin his path towards the Melbourne spring majors this Saturday at Moonee Valley, as the imported stayer kicks off his campaign in the EDSA Group Handicap (1600m).
The UK-bred galloper is trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, and while the weekend’s assignment is a far cry from the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup targets, it marks the first step toward those ambitious goals.
Having already secured a win over 2500m at The Valley earlier this year, Bur Dubai now enters his second preparation on Australian soil.
“There’s always dreams, but with his rating he’s got to win his way there and we’ll let him tell us whether he’s up to it,” said Kent Jnr.
“He had a beautiful first preparation with three runs, so we didn’t over tax him at his first Australian campaign.
“He won a benchmark 78 in nice enough style and then had a nice break.
“Saturday over a mile, so long as he’s finding the line that will be fine, he’ll then step up to 2000 metres, but he won’t be effective until he gets up to 2500 metres.”
The stable is eyeing races such as the Group 3 The Archer and The Bart Cummings, both over 2500m at Flemington, as potential ‘win and you’re in’ opportunities to secure a Cup berth.
“We would like to think that we could be a player in those ‘win and you’re in’ races,” Kent Jnr added.
“Hopefully we can get him to The Archer or The Bart Cummings, but that will depend on his rating at the time.”
Bur Dubai has impressed his handlers with his ability to recover quickly from work, which Kent Jnr says is unmatched in his experience.
“In my time, I would say I’ve never seen a horse so clean winded,” he said.
“He just never blows.
“Whether he’s got the class to win nice staying races, we will see, but he’s clearly got a big capacity for work and he’s the right style of horse, big, strong and sound.”