Tom Queally happy ahead of Twice Over's Dubai World Cup bid

Henry Cecil may have changed travel plans in order to send Twice Over across to Dubai earlier for this year's World Cup but ever a creature of habit, the Newmarket trainer is not planning to arrive himself until later in the week. In Cecil's absence, his big-race jockey Tom Queally was in charge of the preparations for Saturday's favourite on the Tapeta track at Meydan on Tuesday morning, when Twice Over enjoyed a canter in the early-morning sunshine. Last year Twice Over finished only 10th of the 14 runners in the big race, the combination of a wide draw and early bumping putting paid to his chances in a race run at a strangely slow early pace. However, 12 months on, Cecil opted to send the multiple Group One winner out a month earlier and a prep-race at the start of this month in the third round of the Maktoum Challenge could hardly have gone better as he easily accounted for Musir and Gitano Hernando, both of which may renew rivalries this weekend. "The plan has come good so far in that we thought last year that the horses that had been in Dubai seemed to run better and so we took him over early and he did the job nicely in the Maktoum Challenge, to set him up really well for this, hopefully," said Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for the owner Prince Khalid Abdullah. "He was probably in need of the run; he looked a little big, but we expected him to run very well because Henry said he was in good form and he looked in good form, coat-wise and physically. The way he travelled and handled everything was very pleasing. "He never really got into a rhythm [last year] and he was always a bit wide and actually, in the end, I know he was 10th, but he was only beaten three and a bit lengths and, naturally, we were very disappointed at the time but maybe on reflection, given everything, maybe it wasn't such a bad run after all." Queally described it as "a case of so far, so good" this week. "He is grand and is in good form," said the jockey. "He just did a routine piece of work this morning and quickened down the straight. He seems happy in himself, which is the main thing. He was a good winner last time out and he quickened up well. He seems to have tightened up since then and we just need a bit of luck now. He will have a blow-out this Friday and that will get him to the race." Heading the opposition is Cape Blanco, the first runner in six years Aidan O'Brien has sent to Dubai, a statistic widely seen as a deliberate snub to the meeting and part of the spat between the Coolmore and Maktoum breeding empires, even if Ballydoyle publicly insists that the meeting comes too early in the season. Cape Blanco's participation, and the booking of Jamie Spencer, stems from the sale last month of a significant share in the horse to the Dubai-based owners Jim and Fitri Hay, who retain Spencer as their first-choice jockey. The Hays also subsequently agreed to buy a share in another leading Ballydoyle performer, Fame and Glory, although it is understood he will continue to race in the colours of the long-term Ballydoyle owner Derrick Smith. Cape Blanco arrived in Dubai from Ireland in the early hours of Tuesday morning and will not be released from quarantine in order to allow him to work on the track until Thursday.