Jun Park and Delia Nash's Sibelius, who became a graded-stakes winner in the Mr. Prospector (G3) on New Year's Eve at Gulfstream Park, is headed to Dubai to run in the $2 million Golden Shaheen (G1) March 25 at Meydan Racecourse.
“We have accepted an invitation to go to Dubai,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said. “He came out of his last race good and is doing really well.”
Sibelius has put together back-to-back wins for the first time in his 18-race career, both coming in stakes, starting with the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector, which was just his third graded-stakes attempt.
In that race, his fifth straight with jockey Junior Alvarado, Sibelius raced along the inside in second behind pacesetter Uncle Ernie before being swung out on the far turn to take the lead at the top of the stretch and go on to win by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:23.04. Uncle Ernie returns in Saturday's $125,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint.
“He put it all together that day,” O'Dwyer said. “The Mr. Prospector worked out a bit different than the way he had been running. He was in behind the speed getting dirt in his face and had to rate a little bit and then tip out and go do it. He had to do everything like a proper racehorse does. He didn't get everything his own way.”
Sibelius tuned up for Dubai with a 1 ¼-length victory in the Feb. 11 Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs, completing six furlongs in a stakes record 1:08.75, just .08 off the track record, with Alvarado aboard.
“I was very impressed with him, because he really had to battle off and fend off that other horse [Doctor Oscar] that put it to him the whole way,” O'Dwyer said. “He really had to dig in deep to put that horse away towards the wire.”
Sibelius has won four of his last six starts including his first stakes in the six-furlong Lite the Fuse last September at Pimlico Race Course, a front-running 7 ½-length romp over favored fellow Grade 3 winner Jaxon Traveler.
O'Dwyer said Sibelius will continue his preparations at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, before leaving for Dubai next month.
“He'll have a couple breezes here at Palm Meadows and then he'll ship out. He'll probably have his last breeze on [March] 10th. He doesn't need a lot of hard training,” he said. “He'll have a couple of half-mile breezes. The plan is to breeze him on the 10th, check him over on the 11th and, if all is well, get on the plane on the 12th. He might have a little blowout, maybe an easy three-eighths in 38 [seconds] or something, just to let him stretch his legs over the track out there.”
O'Dwyer traveled to Dubai in 2020 with Grade 2 winner Shotski, who ran fourth in Gulfstream's Fountain of Youth (G2), to take part in the UAE Derby (G2). The card was ultimately canceled following the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.
“We're excited. I love shipping horses, but I don't like shipping them anywhere unless I think they're live, and I do think he's a very nice, genuine horse and hopefully he can get a nice piece of it out there,” O'Dwyer said.
“It was kind of our target all along if everything went according to plan,” he added. “Our long-term goal since the end of last year was to go to Dubai with him if he kept continuing to run well and progress.”
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