Credit: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia // Mathea Kelley
17 February 2021, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ~ While the Bob Baffert-trained Charlatan worked on the training track this morning, and Sleep Eyed Todd was on the dirt track, some of the Arabian entries were out as well.
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Charlatan (USA) – The Bob Baffert-trained son of Speightstown remained in the quarantine area on Wednesday, jogging an easy 1600m over the training track.
“We stayed back (in the quarantine area) on the training track this morning,” assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said. “It’s our normal routine, we had our breeze day (Monday), walk day (Tuesday) and with the training track being right there we just stayed there. He jogged a mile. Twice around it’s a half-mile track.”
Sleepy Eyes Todd (USA) – The Miguel Angel Silva trained Sleepy Eyes Todd came onto the dirt track on Wednesday morning where he stood for about 10 minutes before warming up.
Miguel Angel Silva explained: “He always does that. He comes onto the track and first has a look. He then galloped for two rounds. He went a bit faster the second time round. He is fit and good.”
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Mashur Al Khalediah (FR) – The 7-year-old cantered and then breezed for a short distance on the dirt track.
Trainer Phil Collington said: “I’m very pleased with him. This morning we went out to the training track and jogged a lap, then cantered a lap just to loosen him up, then walked to the dirt track and started from about the 1600m pole.
“We just cantered down the back and then lifted a little bit into the straight and let him breeze the last 400m, just to open his lungs and let him have a nice blow. He recovered quickly, and he had a nice long walk and a pick of grass. He’s very well.”
Salam Al Khalediah (FR) – The pride of Polish trainer Maciej Kacprzyk is being looked after by Klaudia Szymaniak and Konrad Mazur, but Kacprzyk has been in close touch over the phone.
He said: “The horse arrived two days ago, he was in quarantine and everything is OK, he seems well, and he’s an experienced horse.
“Even such a long trip was not a problem for him. Today he was working the first time under a saddle and we were able to use the main track. He just cantered slowly, we wanted to see how the surface looked.”
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