Globetrotting stayer Dubai Honour will look to maintain his perfect Australian record when he contests Saturday’s Group 1 Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill.
The seven-year-old gelding, trained by William Haggas, returns to Sydney for the first time in two years, aiming to build on his wins in the 2023 Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
Handler Isabella Paul is confident Dubai Honour is ready to continue his flawless Australian form.
“Dubai Honour has been around the world and back about twenty times so he’s fairly cruisy,” Paul said.
“He seems to just take everything in his stride. He’s probably a bit less naughty than he was as a younger horse, but he still can be pretty cheeky and it’s great to see how fresh he comes off the flight now.
“When they’re a bit younger they think about it a bit more and they stress about it, where for him it is fairly routine and he came off the flight absolutely bouncing.”
Dubai Honour was last seen finishing second in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) on December 8, and Paul is optimistic he will perform strongly first-up after a three-month break.
“He’s in really, really good form,” she said.
“That run in Hong Kong was absolutely huge. He was a bit unlucky in the race and you thought he might have won and then you look at how unlucky the eventual winner actually was, Giavellotto, and you can’t be upset.
“He is still proving himself. That was only a couple of months ago, so I think he can still perform at the top level despite being a seven-year-old.”
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