Roger Varian's superstar of last season Defoe is looking to pick up from where he left off last season over in Britain as he heads over to Dubai to race twice at Meydan in a mission to emulate Postponed for the same trainer and connections.
The six year old has his best season to date and changed punters mind about the horse after previously being a nearly horse that was not good enough to win a Group One to then land the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom in May before scoring again in the prestigious Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot the following month.
He tried to top his season off by taking on the likes of Crystal Ocean and the mighty Enable in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes but he was below par and he was put away for the rest of the season.
This has allowed him to have adequate time off the track and have a nice break to now enjoy a spring campaign over at Meydan where he will be entered in the Group 2 City of Gold Stakes on 'Super Saturday' at Meydan on March 7th before a shot at the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic three weeks later if all gos well.
A bit of a turn-up in the Coronation Cup as Defoe - with @Atzenijockey squeezing through a gap late on - gets past Ryan Moore and Kew Gardens to land the Group 1 at @EpsomRacecourse pic.twitter.com/0ZIa0F0sqG
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 31, 2019
Roger Varian is a trainer already in fine form with his runners ahead of the flat season with his runners on the all weather giving him a healthy strike rate and after having his best flat season to date last year with 116 winners he will looking to do the same this term.
(Credit Racing Post) He said: "Defoe hasn't run for a while but it was always the plan to target him at the Sheema Classic and hopefully we can run him in the City of Gold as a trial before that. We won both races with Postponed four years ago."
Defoe is currently 8/1 for his main target the Dubai Sheema Classic where he will be looking to land the $6 Million prize pot on offer.
He added: "He has enjoyed a good winter. We had also hoped to take Zabeel Prince out there for the Dubai Turf but he's had a setback so we'll keep him for the turf season here."