Fresh from winning the JCB Triumph Hurdle with Countrywide Flame, John Quinn will attempt to complete a notable double when he saddles Red Duke in the UAE Derby on Saturday week.
The 9½-furlong contest, run on the artificial Tapeta surface at Meydan, features among the support races on World Cup night, but prize money of $2 million (about £1,250,000) has attracted competition from all over the globe.
Quinn hopes the race will prime Red Duke for a tilt at the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5. It is an ambitious programme, not least because the North Yorkshire-based Irishman has never had a runner in Dubai.
“We were invited to run in the race and it’s been the plan for some while,” Quinn said yesterday. “He’s been to Southwell twice for racecourse gallops and is in rude health. He has a real bounce to his step and is a fit, happy horse.
“If he’s going to run in one of the Guineas, he’s going to have to run in a trial and it will only help bring him on. There are some very good horses in the race this year and it’s going to be extremely competitive but, with a good draw and a bit of luck in running, he’ll hold his own.”
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Red Duke, who will fly out on Monday and be ridden by Tom Queally, won the group two Superlative Stakes at Newmarket last summer but did not get the rub of the green in three subsequent runs, including in the Dewhurst Stakes in the autumn.
“He ran flat that day, but was still beaten only four lengths,” Quinn said. “He was screaming for a mile last year and that’s not surprising because all his half-brothers are mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half horses. The trip at Meydan will be grand for him.”
If Red Duke shows the same tenacity as Countrywide Flame, his diminutive stablemate, then a bold bid is assured. Just 15.1 hands, he was a game winner of the Triumph Hurdle last Friday and Quinn believe there is more to come — over jumps and on the Flat.
“He’s come out of the race fine and will run at Aintree three weeks on Thursday [in the Matalan Anniversary Juvenile Hurdle],” Quinn said. “After that, we’ll give him a holiday and then bring him back for the Cesarewitch [at Newmarket in October], before resuming over hurdles in the Fighting Fifth.”
Countrywide Flame is quoted at 50-1 for the Champion Hurdle next year and the trainer, whose highlights as a jockey included finishing third in the race aboard Past Glories in 1990, believes those odds are insulting.
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“If Grumeti had won the Triumph by three lengths, he’d be 16-1 for the Champion,” he said. “With our little horse, they question this and they question that, but that’s human beings for you. Whatever the strength of the race, he’s beaten them on merit.”
Quinn’s one regret for Saturday week is that he will be an absentee at Doncaster, where Light From Mars will represent the yard in the William Hill Lincoln.
“I was delighted with his recent run at Wolverhampton and I’d be hopeful for him,” Quinn, seeking a second Lincoln after the victory of Blythe Knight, in 2006, said. “We’ve got around 50 for the Flat this year. I haven’t seen another Red Duke among our two-year-olds just yet, but it’s early days.”
• Synchronised, winner of the Betfred Gold Cup at Cheltenham, heads 59 entries left in the John Smith’s Grand National at yesterday’s forfeit stage. “He’s been left in but we’ll wait until nearer the time before we make any decisions,” Frank Berry, racing manager to owner J. P. McManus, said.