Written by Paul Vettise
Pride Of Dubai was a gifted 2-year-old and he’s already showed he’s passing on his championship qualities to his progeny with two winning strikes already on the board.
He won the G1 Blue Diamond S. and the G1 ATC Sires’ Produce S. before retiring to Coolmore and his precocity has been evident in the opening weeks of the new season.
Pride Of Dubai’s daughter Platinum Dubai was successful on debut for trainer Lisa Latta in New Zealand last month and at Caulfield on Saturday the stallion’s son Tanker ran away with the Listed Inglis Debutant S.
Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the colt had showed a hint of his ability when fourth in his only trial and a performance that had the stable bullish about his prospects.
“We knew he was a bit raw, but thought he had a bit under the hood and he showed a glimpse of that at Cranbourne on Monday,” Maher said.
“He’s done a good job and had a good look around so he’ll sleep well. He had the blinkers on to give him that extra focus.
“He’s done a good job and had a good look around so he’ll sleep well.” – Ciaron Maher
“You could see coming into the straight he was looking around a bit and he’ll improve so much. He ended up putting them away pretty easily, it’s great for Pride Of Dubai to kick off like that.”
Tanker was bred by Edinburgh Park principals Ian and Andre Smith and was purchased out of their Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling draft by Maher for $170,000.
Tanker as a yearling
“Ian has retained a share as well. We’ll see how he pulls up and feel our way – maybe a Blue Diamond, maybe a Golden Slipper, we’ll dare to dream.”
Tanker is a half-brother to the Listed Cinderella S. winner Lady Naturaliste (Choisir) with their dam Calcatta (Tale Of The Cat {USA}), successful in the Listed Dequettville S.
“The mother was trained at Aquanita and she was only very small, but very quick. That pushed me into buying this horse, he’s a bigger and stronger version.”
Perfect record
It was the only ride for Tanker’s jockey Ben Allen on the card and he made full use of his opportunity by settling the colt off the speed and he came with an undeniable finish down the centre of the track.
Euphoric Summer (Not A Single Doubt) was green in the straight and did a good job to take second with and Queen Of Rocks (Fastnet Rock) coming from the back for third.
Ben Allen returning to scale aboard Tanker
“He’s got a lot of ability and I had the benefit of trialling him at Cranbourne and he went nicely,” Allen said.
“He’s still a bit green and raw and he’ll come on a lot from this run. He got a bit worked up in the yard, it’s a big day out for them, but he put a nice field like that away well.”
