By Jason Ford
Trainer Buff Bradley was delighted with his Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) hopeful Brass Hat after the 5-year-old son of Prized galloped under the Nad Al Sheba lights Monday evening, having first sampled the parade ring as his trainer ensured he would experience conditions similar to Saturday night. Leaving the racecourse stables, the horse looked in good order as he walked past to enter the parade ring with his coat shining in the floodlights. He calmly walked a few laps of the ring before going onto the track and galloping. Afterwards Bradley explained: "It was very important to work him under the lights, and the track's long straight should help him on Saturday. He is an easy horse to ride. He can be ridden from off the pace but does not have to be. If circumstances dictate, he is adaptable and can be ridden a lot closer. "As you have seen he is a very relaxed horse who has taken the trip in stride. He has settled in very well and seems happy."Bradley said the World Cup start for Brass Hat came about primarily as a result of the gelding's victory in the Donn Handicap (gr. I)."It was not particularly a long-term objective for the horse but more just the way things have panned out. We have just planned race by race and this was the logical next step after the Donn Handicap. That race has thrown up winners of the World Cup and I would not trade our horse for any other. He has proved that he can cope with travel and humidity in the past and will just go for a walk tomorrow and a jog on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday he will gallop and jog and he will probably stretch his legs on Saturday morning."Brass Hat was accompanied in the paddock before his gallop by both Christophe Clement's Relaxed Gesture and Dante Zanelli's Dominguin. The latter trotted a circuit of the track before galloping, while Clement's horse did not go on the track.
Donn Handicap winner Brass Hat, on the track at Nad Al Sheba.
