The Paul Lafferty-trained champion Harry’s Son will attempt to guarantee his place in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free over 1800m on Dubai World Cup night by running in the  Gr 1 $US300,000 Jebel Hatta over 1800m on Super Saturday this weekend.

Meanwhile, Harry’s Son’s regular jockey Piere Strydom, who is nursing a broken collar bone, faces a race against time to be ready for the Duty Free.

Harry’s Son’s last outing in the Zabeel Mile on February 25 didn’t pan out in his favour as the slow pace saw him over racing slightly. This blunted his usual turn of foot and he could only stay on to the line for fourth place.

However, Lafferty was not concerned, especially considering the smart Australian-bred Haradasun colt will now be having his third run after a rest.

He reminded of the form of great horses like Variety Club and Jay Peg, who were both defeated in their second runs in Dubai before going on to win on World Cup night.

Harry’s Son has drawn four in Saturday’s ten horse field.

Strydom has always been of the opinion Harry’s Son’s best trip is 1400m, but Lafferty revealed the great jockey had said the same before winning the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1600m at Greyville on him as a two-year-old. The colt had also run a fair fifth in “bottomless ground, which he hated”, in the Gr 1 SA Classic over 1800m.

Lafferty added Harry’s Son was “very well” and had actually put on 1kg since his last race.

Meanwhile, Harry’s Son has been invited to run in the prestigious HK$14 million Champions Mile at Sha Tin on May 1.

Strydom has been in a sling for three weeks and the recovery process is being aided by the use of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. He has been able to remove the sling occasionally so is now at least getting some movement in the injured area.

He would normally allow the injury to heal at a natural pace, but is very keen to make it for World Cup night on March 26.

He estimated he had a 50/50 chance of doing so.

The doctor had reckoned six to seven weeks would be required, but Strydom said this had been from a cautious point of view.

Strydom would like to ride in a couple of meetings before flying out, in order to avoid ring rustiness. He would also like to be in Dubai for the build up, as he said this was probably the most enjoyable week possible for anyone of his profession.

He would therefore probably need to be ready to ride in the Turffontein meeting of March 17 and he could then also take in the Highveld meeting the following Saturday.

Strydom described the week’s build up to the Dubai Word Cup. Jockeys are treated like kings and it also provides an opportunity to rub shoulders with the best riders in the world for a few days.

He believed this week should be on every racing fan’s to-do list and recommended the tour put on by Phil Georgiou’s Let’s Go Travel company.

By David Thiselton