Twice is more than enough as Cecil star sidesteps Dubai
Posted by Robert James on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Sir Henry Cecil’s admirable seven-year-old star Twice Over will not be asked to make a third successive bid to land the world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 31, and will instead concentrate on matters closer to home this season, writes Elliot Slater.
The Prince Khaled Abdullah-owned son of Observatory was heavily fancied among horse racing betting tips and was sent off the 2/1 favourite for last year’s renewal of the top-class international 10-furlong contest, having won in style at the track three weeks earlier in the Group 2 Al Makhtoum Challenge. On the big night though Tom Queally’s mount never managed to get into the argument in what was a fairly rough race, and eventually came home ninth of the 14-runer field (beaten five lengths), behind the surprise Japanese winner Victoire Pisa.
Having failed to give his true running in the same race 12 months earlier when 10th behind the French/Brazilian winner Gloria de Campeao, Cecil and Abdullah have decided that the race clearly doesn’t suit their horse and will look to campaign him in the big 10-furlong events around Britain and Europe in what looks almost certain to be Twice Over’s final season on the track.
A winner of 12 of his 29 career starts and a total of close to £2.5 million in prize money, Twice Over is never far from the headlines in the horse racing betting news and owes connections absolutely nothing but has been kept in training simply because he retains all his enthusiasm for his job. He showed just how much he enjoys getting stuck in to a race when beating Ransom Note in the Group 2 SkyBet York Stakes last July, before following up back on the Knavesmire in August when pulling out all the stops in the Juddmonte International Stakes to defeat the great mare Midday, (also trained for Abdullah by Henry Cecil), to record his fourth success in the highest grade.
The Prince Khaled Abdullah-owned son of Observatory was heavily fancied among horse racing betting tips and was sent off the 2/1 favourite for last year’s renewal of the top-class international 10-furlong contest, having won in style at the track three weeks earlier in the Group 2 Al Makhtoum Challenge. On the big night though Tom Queally’s mount never managed to get into the argument in what was a fairly rough race, and eventually came home ninth of the 14-runer field (beaten five lengths), behind the surprise Japanese winner Victoire Pisa.
Having failed to give his true running in the same race 12 months earlier when 10th behind the French/Brazilian winner Gloria de Campeao, Cecil and Abdullah have decided that the race clearly doesn’t suit their horse and will look to campaign him in the big 10-furlong events around Britain and Europe in what looks almost certain to be Twice Over’s final season on the track.
A winner of 12 of his 29 career starts and a total of close to £2.5 million in prize money, Twice Over is never far from the headlines in the horse racing betting news and owes connections absolutely nothing but has been kept in training simply because he retains all his enthusiasm for his job. He showed just how much he enjoys getting stuck in to a race when beating Ransom Note in the Group 2 SkyBet York Stakes last July, before following up back on the Knavesmire in August when pulling out all the stops in the Juddmonte International Stakes to defeat the great mare Midday, (also trained for Abdullah by Henry Cecil), to record his fourth success in the highest grade.