Racing manager Derek Brugman explained: “The horses travelled to Dubai too poorly this time and there is no point in trying to get them ready to race. We will give them a month off and then decide what we want to do with them.”

Red Ray (Liesl King)

Yorker, winner of last season’s Summer Cup, Horse Chestnut Stakes and Champions Challenge, is expected to join Mike de Kock’s base at Newmarket in England but with others much will depend on whether the American authorities grant Brugman’s request for a more reasonable approach to the final part of their quarantine restrictions.

He said: “We have asked if they will excuse the C.E.M. (Contagious Equine Metritis) requirement in which they insist – after the 60-day quarantine lockdown – on a further month in C.E.M. quarantine during which the colts are required to test-breed to two mares.”

The problems that this would cause with an entire horse about to go back into training can be imagined and apparently many American vets are of the opinion that the stipulation makes little sense.

Cape Guineas winner Act Of War, top of the list of South African-based Jooste horses both in terms of ability and overseas potential, returned to Joey Ramsden’s yard last week after having a break following his shock Investec Cape Derby defeat on Met day.

Brugman said: “We are in no rush with him. If he doesn’t go to Durban we can keep him in Cape Town for his four-year-old campaign. We are not going to put him through the American requirement and nor are we going to do three months in Mauritius with horses just standing in camps.”

Trainer Tony Millard said he will consider retiring his champion miler after the eight-year-old pulled up lame following an incident-packed running of the Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

A battered Ambitious Dragon finished a game fifth in a race where the eight-year-old was twice checked badly and suffered an injury to his right fore leg, showing obvious discomfort when assessed by Jockey Club vets post-race.

Millard was at first encouraged by the fact the injury wasn’t a reoccurrence of a strained tendon that kept the horse sidelined for more than 18 months leading into this season, but added: “If I’m not happy, I think that’s it for Ambitious Dragon.”

“Look, you can’t make those decisions now. We have to have a look at him in the morning,” Millard said of the seven-time Group One winner, who has won more than HK$58 million in prize money. “He had a really rough ride, it was diabolical how he got bashed around. He came back sore, so we have to look at him.

“Obviously he has been a great champion and means so much to us that we won’t be taking any risks with him – he doesn’t owe us anything.”

–          South China Morning Post

Picture: Ambitious Dragon (HKJC)

Alan Sherman, assistant trainer to his father Art, will travel to Dubai directly to meet America’s horse of the year on arrival, with California Chrome flying out alongside fellow World Cup challenger Lea, who is bidding to hand trainer Bill Mott a second win in the US$10 million event after Cigar in 1996.

California Chrome (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Main Sequence, America’s turf horse of the year who is set to contest the Dubai Sheema Classic, is understood to be accompanying them as the much-vaunted trio spearhead the powerful American challenge to the richest night in racing.

The finishing touches were scheduled to be applied to the Hong Kong team at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday morning, comprising Amber Sky, who will defend his title in the Al Quoz Sprint, and Rich Tapestry, who won the Mahab Al Shimaal last season before running second to fellow Hong Kong raider Sterling City in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Trainer John Moore, who won the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup with Able Friend at Sha Tin on Saturday, has his eyes trained on the Dubai Sheema Classic with Designs On Rome.

Other Hong Kong challengers understood to be making the trip include Lucky Nine, who will attempt to better his third-place finish behind Krypton Factor in the 2012 Golden Shaheen, and fellow sprinters Peniaphobia, from Tony Cruz’s stable, and Super Jockey, who last week became the final addition to the Hong Kong riding party.

The Japanese are also set to arrive later this week, with Epiphaneia, the world’s highest-rated horse in training, set to lead the strong Japanese attack on the World Cup, a race they won in 2011 with Victoire Pisa.

Epiphaneia won the Japan Cup in December and will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, while Hokko Tarumae will try to improve on his last-placed finish 12 months ago on Tapeta in what will be the 20th running of the world’s most valuable race.

–          TheNational.ae

Ante-post betting: 2-1 California Chrome, 4-1 Lea, 6-1 Tamarkuz, 10-1 Hokko Tarumae, Ron The Greek, African Story, 12-1 Prince Bishop, 16-1 Tonalist, Untapable, 20-1 Candy Boy, 25-1 upwards

He said: “My horses were all at Clairwood last year when I went to have a good look at Summerveld and I know they have done a lot of work on the place since.

King Of Pain (Liesl King)

“We are in barns there and that is a big plus because it cuts out all the drafts you get in stables. I know it gets very cold at night but I don’t see that as a problem – you can put blankets on. You just have to be careful with the horses.

“The one thing I do worry about, though, is the horse traffic in the mornings. Apparently there is a queue where the tractor goes and from what I hear it can be a nightmare.”

The champion trainer had the best figures of anybody at Greyville last season. While his July win assured him of being the course’s top trainer he had a strike rate of 26%, a figure bettered by none of the local trainers and only by Dean Kannemeyer (40%) among the visitors.

Joey Ramsden has still to finalise the make-up of his Durban contingent but said: “Kingvoldt’s owners are keen for the colt to have a crack at the KRA Guineas on May 2 which is four weeks before the Golden Horse Sprint at Scottsville.”

King Of Pain, winner of last season’s Rising Sun Gold Challenge, has more immediate objectives at Turffontein and Ramsden said: “He goes for the HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut on Saturday week and I might keep him there for the President’s Champions Challenge four weeks later.”

Neill Bruss is to take 13 horses to Durban. The majority are two-year-olds but his string does include Klawervlei Majorca fourth Red Flame.