Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's multiple listed winner Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal) will continue his career in Australia, according to published reports.
Successful in the Listed Wolferton S. last June, the homebred was third in the G2 York S. a month later and was runner-up in the GI Canadian International S. most recently in October.
“He was very impressive … if he brings that sort of form out here–he's very lightly raced as well for an older horse, he's been well looked after and well managed–he should hopefully have a nice career ahead of him,” co-trainer Sam Freedman, who holds a license with his father Anthony, told Racing.com.
“I think he's identified him as the right profile of horse to send out–his form in England and his run in Canada last time out was excellent.
“He's pretty versatile–he seems to handle most types of going and he's got a bit of speed, so he should hopefully suit out here.”
Sheikh Obaid, who has won the G1 Melbourne Cup, already has Dubai Poet (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Legend Of Dubai (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) with the Freedmans in Australia.
“[Royal Champion] is still up there, so he'll fly out soonish, I'd say. The plan is to obviously have him out here and working along through the winter,” Freedman added.
“There's going to be some really suitable 2000-metre races for him over the course of the spring, so we'll see where he fits in–but he's going to arrive with a pretty high rating, so hopefully he can feature in some big ones.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
