Pelican Could Put Imperial Hint on Road Back to Dubai

Imperial Hint, one of the top dirt sprinters in the world, is taking aim at Dubai and a chance at redemption on multiple levels.

The son of Imperialism ventured to Meydan for the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) two years ago, but was scratched because of a fever. He also has a budding rivalry with two-time champion U.S. sprinter Roy H, and both of those itches can be scratched if the Luis Carvajal Jr. trainee succeeds in his second chance at a first Meydan impression March 30.

"Right now he's doing extremely well," Carvajal told the Dubai Racing Club. "If all goes well with his preparation, he will run on the 16th here at (Tampa Bay Downs). I have had to space out his works a little bit because he's ready to run and wants to go way too fast. I can't wait to run him here in Tampa.

"Dubai is our main goal and I hope we get there," the trainer continued. "It will be good because I think he will love the track and weather there. He does really likes hot weather, which is another reason we have him preparing in Florida. He really likes to train. We wanted to give him more time off after (finishing third in the grade 1 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 3), but it's not easy to do that and I wanted to keep an eye on him."

Raymond Mamone's 12-time winner from 19 starts returned to the work tab Jan. 3 and has turned in a trio of quick moves in total, including a sparkling five-furlong work in :59 flat Jan. 26. He is slated to run in Tampa's $100,000 Pelican Stakes Feb. 16, a race that has attracted nominations from the likes of Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T)-placed World of Trouble, two-time Dubai Golden Shaheen runner-up X Y Jet, and Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Quip.

"The work was very impressive," Carvajal said. "I just wanted to see what he would do and if he had slowed down a bit, but he was full of run. He wanted to do something and the jockey tried to hold him a little bit, but he really ran. When the jockey came back, he had a big smile."

Imperial Hint was the favorite over Roy H in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Sprint, but finished five lengths behind his rival, thus losing the race and his chance at a championship. In the preceding months he won four races, including the Vosburgh Stakes (G1) and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) amid a season that immediately followed a runner-up finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint of 2017 behind the same foe.

"Sometimes you want to have an easy spot, but he's doing so good right now and I'd like to see him run against good horses like X Y Jet or World of Trouble before we head to Dubai," Carvajal said. "We want to beat the best of the best and hopefully we get a chance to run against Roy H again in Dubai. He's a nice horse and our horse is a nice horse. I'd like to get a chance to beat him."