步步友吾去杜拜
自南華早報:
No Sydney and now no Dubai, with champion miler Able Friend most likely to target the Group One Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June after completing his domestic program.
That was the end result of yesterday's hotly awaited lunch meeting at Jimmy's Kitchen between trainer John Moore and Able Friend's owner, Dr Cornel Li Fook-kwan.
"We had a great lunch and Dr Li asked myself and my son, George, for our opinion on his view that it would be best to keep Able Friend in Hong Kong until his program here is finished and then look at the Royal Ascot option," Moore said. "Dr Li has had runners at Royal Ascot before so he knows the meeting well and I can certainly see where he is coming from. That would allow Able Friend to have a spell afterwards, maybe even some time in a green paddock in England, at the end of the campaign.
"Dr Li isn't opposed to Dubai as a future option, perhaps next year when we feel Able Friend, as a six-year-old, will be at his absolute peak. But he said to me we've got a very special horse on our hands, we won't overrace him the way the Hong Kong program is and let's look at doing more overseas travel with him next season."
However, Moore stressed that even Royal Ascot is not set in stone at this stage for 2015.
"We need to look at the details of him going to the Queen Anne and, of course, he has three more races in Hong Kong to get through - the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup on Derby Day, the Chairman's Trophy after that and then the Champions Mile in May," Moore said.
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