February 12, 2014 - Richard Gibson, trainer of the high-class Hong Kong star, Akeed Mofeed, is biding his time before deciding whether or not to send the recent Centenary Vase winner to the Arabian Gulf in late-March for a crack at the Group 1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan, writes Elliot Slater.

While the five-year-old son of Dubawi would go to Dubai as a leading contender for the $10 million contest, Gibson is concentrating his mind first on preparing the ex-Irish star for the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup over 2000m at Sha Tin on February 23. A victory there would surely tempt Gibson into having a crack at the World Cup with a horse who has already shown a clean pair of heels this season to some very smart performers, most notably when beating Tokei Halo by a length in the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in December.

His most recent success, when giving away weight all round and sent off 7/5 favourite in the racing betting in Group 3 company, was pretty much seen as the perfect race to bring the winner of five of his 13 races back to concert pitch ahead of his next big challenge in Hong Kong.

“I’m very pleased we gave the horse a race today, it was a good workout, which he needed” Gibson admitted after Akeed Mofeed had beaten the Mirco Demuro-ridden Ashkiyr by a neck. “I think the horse can improve for the big race in three weeks time.”

Narrowly beaten by David Livingston in Group 2 company as a juvenile in Ireland when sent off the 5/6 favourite after heavy racing live betting support, Akeed Mofeed was a distant fourth behind Camelot in the 2012 Irish Derby but has really turned over a new leaf since joining Gibson to race in the former British colony.