CONNECTIONS of Curlin were satisfied after the American Horse of the Year was handed stall 12 for Saturday's Dubai World Cup.
The four-year-old has been in Dubai for over a month and has already tasted victory on the Nad Al Sheba dirt, having won the Jaguar Trophy on 28 February on his eagerly-anticipated UAE debut.
The son of Smart Strike is favourite to add the World
Cup to October's Breeders' Cup Classic triumph after impressing throughout his preparation work, although no horse has triumphed in this race from the 12 box.
"He has done very well since he has been here and he tends to run better the second time he runs over a course," said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. "We wanted to get him a race over Nad Al Sheba and the races have worked out well for us. The draw suits us fine. With the configuration of the race track, position is not too important."
Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor insisted he was "happy" after improving multi-million dollar colt Jalil was drawn in eight, with stablemate Happy Boy in three for Sheikh Mohammed's outfit.
Mike De Kock is confident last year's UAE Derby winner Asiatic Boy will bounce back from his disappointing third in Group Three company from stall nine.
"I would have liked stall one. He has very good gate speed and I would be very happy for him to lead in the race," said De Kock. "He is going to have to up his game to be able to win on Saturday, but he is fit and well."
In the Sheema Classic, Viva Pataca will break from stall 12, with Hong Kong Vase winner Doctor Dino starting from 15 and Mick Channon's Youmzain in five.
In the highly-anticipated Dubai Duty Free on the turf, Champion Stakes winner Literato will start from stall 10 for Godolphin and Frankie Dettori, with stablemate Creachadoir breaking from gate nine.
The full article contains 334 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
