Burrows bidding for crowning victory

TDT | Manama                  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Trainer Owen Burrows is hoping for international success with Alflaila, who will line up in the £600,000 Group Three Bahrain International Trophy on 18 November.

The Shadwell Estate-owned Alflaila is a leading contender for the one-and-quarter-mile contest and is set to be Burrows’s first runner in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Burrows, in his first season as a public trainer, became a Group One-winning trainer this year thanks to Hukum in the Coronation Cup at Epsom and Minzaal in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, while an impressive 32 per cent of his British runners this year have won.

Burrows has been boosted with the news that Hukum, a half-brother to Baaeed, has returned to training. Flying the flag this winter for Burrows will be the progressive dual-Group Three winner Alflaila.

The son of Dark Angel has won his last three starts, with his latest victory coming in the Group Three Darley Stakes at Newmarket, a win which gave an automatic entry into the Bahrain International Trophy.

Burrows, speaking ahead of Alflaila travelling out to Bahrain next week, said: “I’ve been really, really pleased with him since Newmarket. He has come out of the race well. “We’ve had a couple of quiet weeks with him but are stepping his work up now. He looks great and although we’re coming towards the end of the year, he’s showing me no signs that he has had a hard season. He’s really well.”

Despite breaking slowly from the stalls in the Darley Stakes, Alflaila pulled clear of his rivals in a competitive field to win under Jim Crowley. Burrows said: “I was slightly concerned at Newmarket that he would be vulnerable with a slow start there because, as we know, you can struggle to come from behind on the Rowley Mile.

It’s interesting to see the second horse (Ottomon Fleet) franked the form at the weekend, so I think it looks as though it’s a strong piece of form. I liked the way the front two pulled clear of the third.” Burrows is confident that there is more to come from his improving three-year-old who has stepped forward from each run this season.

Burrows said: “We had high hopes for him last year and for whatever reason he didn’t run badly, but he didn’t fulfill what we thought he was potentially going to be. No disrespect but he’s won two Group Three’s now. We hope he’ll progress to be Group Two and then Group One-level, but the race in Bahrain is proper Group One level money. There’s not many opportunities in a Group Three to run for this sort of money.”

Alflaila will be Burrows’ first ever runner in Bahrain and the Lambourn-based trainer is excited about the challenge. He said: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been quite a year for us with our first runners in Dubai, so I am really looking forward to it.

“Everybody tells me it is such a good place and there are great training facilities. He’s pretty versatile groundwise. He likes a bit of cut and has won on quick ground, so he should be fine. They tell me the track is a nice, fair, galloping track so we’re looking forward to it. Jim Crowley has a good relationship with the horse and is set to ride the horse in Bahrain.”

Alflaila will be stepping up in trip but Burrows doesn’t see any issue in tackling the one-and-a-quarter-mile for the first time. He said: “I don’t see why he won’t stay. His last two runs were over nine-furlongs. I think it will probably give him a chance to find his feet and I didn’t think he was stopping at Newmarket last time. I’d be surprised if we were blaming the one-and-a-quartermile if he gets beat.”