Prince Of Arran on course for third Dubai Gold Cup attempt

Charlie Fellowes hoping for better luck at Meydan.

Charlie Fellowes’ globetrotting stable star Prince Of Arran will continue on his travels later this month with a third outing in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan.

Last year’s Melbourne Cup runner-up made an encouraging return to action on Saturday, when finishing third in the inaugural Longines Turf Handicap at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

While Prince Of Arran has failed to figure in the last two renewals of the Group Two prize, which forms part of the Dubai World Cup undercard on March 28, the Newmarket handler is confident he will be hard to keep out of the frame.

Fellowes said: “Saturday’s race probably suited horses that were a bit further back and we probably used up a bit more petrol in the first three furlongs of the race, but that is just picking at straws. I was really happy with the run.

“I’d say he will head back out to Meydan for the Dubai Gold Cup again. He likes Meydan as he has won out there and this is where the global journey began.

“It has been a bogey race for him – two years ago he had far too much ground to make up, then last year he was really sick afterwards, so we have got unfinished business out there.

“He is a completely different horse now and while it will be Sod’s law that he finds one or two too good again, it would take a brave man to bet on him finishing outside the first three.”

Looking further ahead, Fellowes is considering giving Prince Of Arran a second shot at the Ascot Gold Cup, in which he finished eighth in 2017, before taking a familiar route back to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington in November.

He added: “I would like to try him back over two and a half miles in the Ascot Gold Cup. He would then have a little break before running him in the September Stakes at Kempton, which he was third in last year.

“He would have one run in either the Caulfield Cup or Geelong Cup, which he won last year, before going to the Melbourne Cup.

“One thing he won’t do this year is go to Hong Kong, as he hasn’t got the pace to go against those proper mile-and-a-half horses.”

Fellowes is considering dropping Chiefofchiefs, who has recently returned from a spell racing in Dubai, back down to six furlongs after earmarking the Wokingham at Royal Ascot as a possible early summer target.

He said: “Chiefofchiefs had a good time in Dubai and he was unlucky not to win on his second start out there. Richard Mullen said the ground was just too quick last time.

“I feel like I have learnt a lot with him and I might drop him back to six furlongs with the visor – I’m thinking about the Wokingham with him, as a really big field with a strong pace would suit him.”

A trip to All-Weather Championship Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday appears off the agenda for last year’s Northumberland Vase winner Carnwennan.

Fellowes said: “I think we will miss Lingfield, as I don’t think that is his track and he is not the easiest to train.

“We will either work back from the Northumberland Plate or the Ascot Stakes – he would stay that two-miles-four all day long.”

Pirate King will try to move a step closer to a potential appearance at the Royal meeting by bidding to complete a four-timer at Lingfield later this month.

Fellowes said: “There is another race back at Lingfield in about three weeks’ time which is 0-100 and if he wins that, he would be in the high 90s and we could look at some really nice races.

“He is the sort of horse that would benefit from a big field and he wants a mile and a half on quick ground. The Duke of Edinburgh might be the ideal spot if he keeps progressing.”

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