A NEED FOR SPEED
Trainer Knight expects Frost At Dawn to upset the odds when she mixes it with the best in Dubai. Talented filly is showing…
NEWMARKET trainer William Knight believes his filly Frost At Dawn can cement her reputation as one of the surprises packages of this winter’s Dubai Racing Carnival in the $1.5million Al Quoz Sprint on Saturday’s World Cup card.
Frost At Dawn, whose bucking antics before exercise keep work rider Abbie Pierce on her toes, was an unheralded member of the British Dubai squad when she headed to the Middle East on the back of an easy win in a seven-furlong contest at Chelmsford in November.
Knight originally hoped she would be good enough to run in the UAE 1,000 Guineas over a mile. But five runs at Meydan have shown speed rather than stamina is Frost At Dawn’s forte as her attention was switched to shorter races.
She earned her place in the Al Quoz with a two-and-a-half length win in the five-furlong Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint at the start of this month, breaking a track record which had stood since 2017 by a whopping 0.49sec.
A tail wind helped Frost At Dawn but Knight feels it’s hard to understand why his Mickael Barzalona-ridden filly is 7-1 while Charlie Appleby’s Star of Mystery, who was the two-and-ahalf length runner-up in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, is 3-1 joint-favourite.
Knight said: ‘If someone had said I would be coming into the World Cup meeting with a runner in the Al Quoz Sprint, I would’ve said, “Don’t be ridiculous”.
‘Even the fact we are going over six furlongs. We came out here with the idea of running Frost At Dawn in the UAE Guineas.
‘It started to look obvious after a couple of runs here that she was showing a lot of speed and thank God we dropped her back in trip. Her form since has spoken for itself.
‘The run in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint was a surprise because we were a bit worried about dropping back to the minimum (five furlong) trip. Mickael gave her a lovely ride, she got the rail and showed a lot of speed.
‘Hopefully she can replicate that on Saturday. Yes, it is an extra furlong in the Al Quoz but if anything that could help her. I see they make Charlie’s horse the favourite and we beat that off level weights fair and square.’
Knight says he wasn’t the only one who originally thought the Abdulla Al Mansoori-owned filly needed further. Jockeys Luke Morris, on board when she won at Chelmsford, and William Buick, who rode her when she was second on her Dubai debut in December, both felt she needed middle distances.
Knight added: ‘All her family were mile or mile-and-a-quarter horses and she trains at home like that. While her work was always good, she never trained like a sprinter.
‘Luke Morris and William Buick both said she would get a mile no problem, so I am not the only stupid one! The turning point was when she ran in the (seven-furlong) Jumeirah Fillies’ Classic (on February 2).
‘That day she showed a lot of speed, cruised into the race and then folded.
‘If I had kept her back in England, we might have tried to chase the Guineas dream and run her in a trial. We’d have got to May or June and then realised she was a sprinter. It has worked well coming out here.’
A positive performance on Saturday would put Frost At Dawn in line for the big sprints back in Britain and possibly a shot at the Breeders’ Cup in California in November.
Knight said: ‘It will be pie in the sky if she goes and finishes last but you have to hope she will run a big race.
‘If she does, that is the programme you would look at. She has thrived while she has been here and really strengthened.’