Dubai: Former UAE champion trainer Erwan Charpy is hoping for a bold show from his trio of contenders at the Dubai World Cup meeting, as he bids for his first winner at the world's richest raceday.
The Frenchman's hopes primarily lie with the regally-bred Rosberg, an impressive winner of the competitive $120,000 Visa Infinite Handicap, run over 1700m, at Nad Al Sheba last month.
The seven-year-old, by AP Indy and out of Bosra Sham, is set to line up for the Group 2 Godolphin Mile, sponsored by Etisalat, where he will face a strong American challenge, led by Diamond Stripes, as well as stablemate Golden Arrow.
A notoriously difficult horse to train due to his fragile mind and body, Charpy has always believed in Rosberg's ability, describing him "one of the classiest I have ever trained."
Competitive
"The horse has always had lots of issues but he is training well and ran a really good time in his last race, so he should be competitive," he said on the Dubai Racing Club newswire.
"On his day, his natural class and ability to travel in his races sees him through although he must be 100% sound. But if he is, then there's no reason why he won't have a winning chance."
Also lining up for the $1 million contest, run over 1600m, will be Golden Arrow who finished a close second to Godolphin's Blackat Blackitten at Nad Al Sheba last month.
Blackat Blackitten went on to post an impressive second to stablemate Elusive Warning in the Group 2 Burj Nahaar, ahead of last year's UAE Derby champion Asiatic Boy, who was back in third.
Charpy is pleased with how Golden Arrow has come out of the race, and is again hopeful of his chances on the big night, saying: "He is a tough, gutsy horse who has the ability to stay. If he gets a bit of pace in the race, we're hopeful he could steal a place."
The third of his trio is Munaddam, who is due to contest the Dubai Golden Shaheen, sponsored by Gulf News, a race that Charpy recognises will be very difficult to steal from the Americans, who have won every race bar one, since 2000.
Munaddam, who impressed on his first start on the dirt here in Dubai two weeks ago when third in the Listed Al Quoz Sprint, is an "unknown quantity" according to the Frenchman. "He certainly has a lot of speed and he is a big horse with a nice stride who handles the dirt well," he said.
"He has come on a lot for his last run as it perhaps came up a little soon for him last time out."
