Jockey David Allan hopes Art Power can defy a wide draw in Saudi Cup sprint

Tim Easterby’s globe-trotting stable star hasn’t been seen since winning a first Group One for horse and rider on Champions Day at Ascot last October.

But regular pilot Allan is sure he will give a good account of himself today, despite being handed a wide draw from stall 13 for the seven furlong contest – which is worth £945,000 to the winner.

“He seems well in himself and has enjoyed being out on the track with all the other horses,” Allan told The Yorkshire Post from Saudi Arabia.

“We have been given a wide draw which is going to make things a little more difficult on ground that we tend not to run him on too often.

“So there’s a few little challenges there, but he seems in good nick and I couldn't be happier with his preparations.”

The popular grey, owned by King Power Racing, whose company also own Championship leaders Leicester City, has run in England, Ireland and France in a successful career which has yielded nine wins from 31 starts and over £750,000 in prize money.

“He deserves to be at the big meetings after all the good races he has run and perfect for us all getting the chance to go abroad and experience a different way of racing, atmosphere and preparations,” said Allan, the Great Habton operation’s stable jockey.

But he remains frustrated with the higher draw and says kinder one could have helped in their quest to defeat Godolphin’s ante-post favourite Mysterious Night.

Last October, Allan rode Vafartino to listed success at Redcar for trainer Kevin Philippart and that horse was subsequently beaten by Mysterious Night on his last run at Meydan a month ago.

Allan explained: “Even the favourite, I have ridden a horse that he has beaten last time and I would think Art Power is a bit better than that horse, so if I was drawn inside, I’d fancy him quite a lot if I am honest with you.

“Being drawn out wide might cause us a problem and it is quite a tight bend, but I will have to sort it out as it happens.”

Easterby and his wife Sarah are out in Riyadh for the two day meeting which concludes at 5.40 today with the Saudi Cup – the world’s richest race and worth $20million.

Allan added: “I’ve been kept busy enough. I have been playing squash and tennis and it has all livened up the past couple of days as people start arriving.

“Tim and his wife are out here and one of the staff members, Liam (Pearson) who has been looking after Art Power while we have been here.

“It’s all gone smoothly and we haven’t had any worries about anything.”

Yorkshire’s other hope today is the Richard Fahey trained Spirit Dancer, trained just down the road from Art Power in Malton.

The horse was bred and is part-owned by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and lines up in the one mile two furlong Group Two Howden Neom Turf Cup at 4.10 under jockey Oisin Orr.

The seven-year-old gave Ferguson and fellow owners, Ged Mason and Fred Done, a day to remember when scoring in the Bahrain International Trophy last November.

Spirit Dancer prepared for this $2m race by finishing fourth in Meydan’s Jebel Hatta last month and his handler says that has put him right for today.

Fahey said: “I felt he would need the run the last day and it looked that way as well.

“He has had four or five weeks to acclimatise now. It’s all stuff of dreams, which is becoming a reality when we get to run on Saturday. It’s fantastic here, we are well looked after and the horse is happy.

“When you come on these trips, the most important thing is how the horse is – and the horse is in good order. I’m very pleased with him and at the moment I wouldn’t swap my fella.”

Fahey admitted to feeling a little star struck when he first met the football legend but said they had since struck up a great rapport discussing their respective sports.

“To be fair, when I first started training for him, I was a little bit humbled,” he said.

“I have some fantastic conversations with him and he has been to the yard three or four times now. He is just a wonderful man and you can see why he has been a success.

“It’s a humbling experience but it’s amazing, because even this week we were discussing footballers and horses and Sir Alex was asking why we didn’t canter on the grass.

“I explained we race on the (grass) surfaces because if we were to train on them all the time, we wouldn’t have many horses left, so we tend to use the artificial surfaces – and he compared it to a very good football team whose training pitch was quite quick and a lot of the players were getting hurt, so there is comparisons with football and racing.”