Mohammed Rashid’s Dance And Dance (IRE)
started on phase two of his North American campaign Monday morning by
working a half-mile in :47.40 over the main track at Keeneland in
preparation for Saturday’s Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).
With
exercise rider Jerry O’Dwyer up, Dance And Dance covered the first
quarter-mile in :24.20 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.40.
“He
does most of his training back home on synthetic surfaces and I felt it
was a little bit too quick to work him on the grass here,” said trainer
Edward Vaughn, who is based at Newmarket. “I’d say 90 percent of our
training is on synthetic.”
The
Shadwell Turf Mile will give the 37-year-old Vaughn a chance to saddle
his first starter in the United States. He accompanied Dance And Dance
to Woodbine, where he finished sixth behind Turallure in the Woodbine
Mile (G1) under Jamie Spencer, who will have the riding assignment here
Saturday.
“He
was blocked in up there and had nowhere to run,” Vaughn said. “It is
like his races at home. A paper there called him the unluckiest horse in
England because he just seems to into trouble in all of his races.”
A
winner of one of eight starts in 2011, Dance And Dance has been
competitive in all races but one in which he missed the break and was
rushed up before fading in a handicap at Sandown.
“He
has come up through the ranks and he has probably improved 20 pounds
this year,” Vaughn said. “It took him five starts to break his maiden
and now he has carried up to 136 pounds in top handicaps and giving
weight to some useful horses.”
Dance And Dance finished 1¾ lengths behind Turallure. He shipped to Keeneland on Wednesday from Woodbine.
“If
he ran well there, we decided we would take on a two-race program with
him in North America,” Vaughn said. “He is a 5-year-old gelding and we
will keep on going forward with him as long as he is doing well.”
Vaughn will not have to wait long for a second Keeneland starter. Stars to Shine, a stakes winner at Woodbine this summer, is shipping in from Woodbine for Sunday’s Juddmonte Spinster (G1).
“I
own 25 percent of her in the Grange House Partnership,” Vaughn said of
Stars to Shine, who was trained at Woodbine by Mark Frostad. “We sent
her to Canada because the money was so good.”