Saeed bin Suroor could adopt a similar route to last year with Thunder Snow as he gears up to defend his Dubai World Cup crown at Meydan in March.
The Newmarket handler has earmarked round three of the Al Maktoum Challenge, in which the five-year-old finished second in 12 months ago, as a possible target for the son of Helmet who was last seen when finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
Bin Suroor said: “We are looking at round three of the Al Maktoum Challenge and then the Dubai World Cup. After the World Cup we will take him back to America again.
“He is doing good, but we are just giving him an easy time. He looks happy but we just want to give him a break between races as he had a few hard runs in America.
“In the Breeders’ Cup Classic they went like a sprint and not a mile-and-a-quarter race and he did well to finish third.”
Stablemate and fellow Group One winner Benbatl will try for back-to-back wins in the Dubai Turf having chased home Australian superstar Winx in the Cox Plate on his final start last year.
Bin Suroor added: “He ran in some hard races in England, Germany and Australia last year. We kept him running all the time and he didn’t have a break really.
“He has had an easy time and we will probably go for the Dubai Turf on World Cup night then keep him for the European season.
“He could go to Super Saturday first, but we will see how is doing.”
Provided by Press Association Sport
