Dubai: Dale Romans, who saddled Roses In May to win the 2005 Dubai World Cup (Gr 1), is looking to claim a slice of history by sending out the first American-trained winner of the UAE Derby (Gr).
No US-based colt has won the UAE Classic since it was first run in the millennium year, but Romans is hoping he can set the record straight with Graded stakes winner Massive Drama.
Romans told the Dubai Racing Club newswire that the colt's Egyptian-born owner Ahmad Zayat wanted to send one of his 11 three-year-old colts nominated to the American Triple Crown to Dubai, rather than have them clash with each other.
"He just wanted to keep them all separated as much as possible," Romans said from his base at Gulfstream Park. "He thought he'd like to take one over there [to Dubai], and Massive Drama was the one who made the most sense.
"He's doing good and the race is worth a lot of money, and it just makes sense to go over and give it a shot. Why not?"
The last US-trained horse to compete in the UAE Derby was California-based Outta Here, trained by trainer Bill Currin, who finished fourth behind South Africa's Victory Moon in 2003.
Massive Drama had been trained by World Cup-winning trainer Bob Baffert until he was transferred last month to Romans' stable.
Romans has his work cut out for him as history tells us that the odds are stacked against American colts. In the race's eight runnings, the Dubai-owned Godolphin stable have sent out five winners, while Southern Hemisphere-bred horses have won the other three, Argentina's Asiatic Boy being the most recent winner for the South Americans.
But Romans knows what kind of horse it will take to win in Dubai after his success with Roses In May.
And he appears confident Massive Drama has the right credentials to be that horse. "I don't want to go back [to Dubai] unless I think I can win," he said.
Massive Drama is unplaced in four career starts. He made a winning debut when taking the Hollywood Prevue Stakes (Gr 3) as a juvenile last year and then went on to finish a close third to Into Mischief and Colonel John in the Futurity (Gr I).
He began the year in January with a third-place effort in the San Rafael Stakes (Gr 3) Santa Anita Pak before showing improvement with running a respectable third in the San Vicente Stakes (Gr 2) also at the Californian track.
Improvement
Among the horses Massive Drama will encounter in the UAE Derby are the Mike De Kock pair of Royal Vintage and Honour Devil, winners of the Al Bastakiya and UAE 2000 Guineas respectively, and a trio of Godolphin stars-in-the-making - including Cocoa Beach, Numaany and Etched.
But Romans has been encouraged by the improvement his colt has shown since he took over from Baffert and said: "He came to me in good shape and he's a very nice horse to be around. He's trained good and he's run good all year."
The UAE Derby is run over 1,800 metres on dirt and is the richest Derby in the world with $2 million (Dh7.5 million) prize money.
