Breeders' Cup Turf Hero Yibir Set for Sheema Classic

With Super Saturday at Meydan done and dusted, Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby has started outlining battle plans for Dubai World Cup day on March 26, with Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) hero Yibir  set to lead the charge in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1).

Yibir has wintered in Newmarket but is set to arrive in Dubai this week and will start his year on the biggest day of the racing calendar in the United Arab Emirates.

Appleby had considered running improving stablemate Manobo  in the Sheema but, with Yibir pleasing his trainer in Britain, Manobo will instead tackle the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) on the same card.

"At the moment Manobo is heading towards the Dubai Gold Cup," said Appleby. "We toyed with running him in the City of Gold (on Super Saturday) with the potential of looking at the Sheema Classic, but we've got Yibir on track at the moment for the Sheema.

"If he turns up fit and well, then we'll keep them apart and Manobo will head to the Gold Cup."

Whereas Yibir has been based at Appleby's Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket, Manobo has been enjoying the sunshine of Dubai over the winter and showed his well-being when an easy winner of the Nad Al Sheba Trophy Presented by Dp World Uae (G3) at Meydan last month, taking his record to a perfect five from five. 

Speaking from Dubai, Appleby added: "Manobo is in Dubai but Creative Force  and Yibir are shipping out in the next week. They've got a long summer ahead of them so I didn't want to campaign them out here in any trials, I wanted to bring them straight out for World Cup night.

"They're hitting every target back home, ship out this week, and then, if all that goes well, they'll turn up on World Cup night in good form but very much with the season ahead of them."

Creative Force, winner of the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes (G1) in October, may have his work cut out against stablemate and impressive Super Saturday scorer Man of Promise  when the pair clash in the Al Quoz Sprint (G1).

Appleby said: "William Buick said if Man of Promise can do the same in three weeks' time you could be dealing with a potential Al Quoz winner. For Creative Force, the Al Quoz is the starting point and he'll hopefully be going on to the Diamond Jubilee (G1)."

Appleby is on the cusp of a potentially seismic season in Europe, with last year's leading juveniles Native Trail, Coroebus , and Modern Games  on the Guineas trail and Classic winners Adayar  and Hurricane Lane  ready to lead an exciting team of older horses into group 1 battle.

"They've all wintered fine and are stepping up their work," said the trainer. "They're ticking every box at the moment but I'm very conscious that you never know what weather is going to turn up in March.

"We've had a very mild winter in Britain and everything is very forward at the minute, but you can get sucked into a false sense of security, then all of a sudden Cheltenham comes and you're in a couple of feet of snow!

"None of those horses shipped out to Dubai—I purposely left them back (in Newmarket) because we had enough of a team out here to be busy, and it was very much the mindset to leave those horses back in Britain this year."