Euro Charline gets green light to pursue Dubai Turf

Euro Charline has been deemed on course for a tilt in the Dubai Turf (Four Footed Fotos) Two months after Team Valor returned Euro Charline (Myboycharlie) to his care, trainer Marco Botti has given a green light for the Beverly D. (G1) winner to point for the $6 million Dubai Turf (UAE-G1) on World Cup night at Meydan. Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin has had an eye on the race formerly known as the Dubai Duty Free for months, but he was careful to not imply any expectation that she would be ready to run in this year’s edition after being sidelined last fall with an injury. “I consider this to be super news since it comes without any prompting from us,” Irwin said. “Because of the filly’s injury, I did not want to put any pressure on Marco to run her in this race. I always figured if it came up too soon for this year that we could always point for it next year. So I left it strictly up to him and never asked him about it.”

Botti volunteered late last week from his base in Newmarket, England, that he
is confident she will be ready for the 1800-meter race on March 28.

“Euro Charline is going very well and I am pleased with her,” Botti said.
“She is moving well and is in great form at this time of the season.”

Irwin and Botti will put their heads together in the next few weeks to devise
a plan. They both can draw on considerable experience. Team Valor, of course,
captured the main event on World Cup night in 2013 with Animal Kingdom and also
was triumphant in the 2003 Dubai Duty Free with the African mare Ipi Tombe. At that time, the race was worth $2 million. More recently, it has
been one of the most valuable turf races in the world with a purse of $5
million. This year, with a new sponsor, it has been boosted to $6 million.

Botti has hit the board in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) twice and
has won two other group stakes at Meydan.

Irwin first mentioned the Dubai Turf as an objective in August at Arlington
after she became the first three-year-old filly to win the Beverly D. She was
supposed to continue racing in America last fall but was sidelined with a minor
foot fracture, requiring arthroscopic surgery. At that point, Team Valor decided
to send her back to Botti, and she was cleared to resume training when she
arrived in mid-November.

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