The 2014 Dubai journey has started.
Durban July winner Heavy Metal went straight into quarantine following his victory in the country’s premier race and will fly off to Mauritius early next month with a Dubai World Cup Carnival campaign in mind.
Alongside him at the Kenilworth Quarantine Station are a number of South Africa’s top horses, including Mike de Kock-trained Vercingetorix, Rumya, Lehaaf, Mujaarib, Alexandra Palace, Merhee and Full Combat, as well as a new recruit Master Plan, formerly trained by Alec Laird.
Other horses currently awaiting export are Equus Horse Of The Year Variety Club, Slumdogmillionaire, Blueridge Mountain and Happy Valentine, who is now owned by Barry Irwin’s Team Valor International is en-route to the USA.
The horses will be going via Mauritius, where they will stay for three months, and then Europe. The Dubai-bound horses will arrive in the Middle East in the first week of December, a month before the Carnival.