Frustration for Fellowes as Dubai cancellation leaves Prince Of Arran stranded
Charlie Fellowes has questioned the timing of the cancellation of Dubai World Cup night after sending his globetrotting yard favourite Prince Of Arran to the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
Fellowes had planned to run the seven-year-old in the Dubai Gold Cup after being given assurance that the meeting would take place behind closed doors on Saturday.
On Sunday the meeting was called off on health grounds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dubai World Cup night cancelled due to coronavirus fears
Fellowes now fears he will face difficulty getting the 2019 Melbourne Cup runner-up and members of his staff back home as global travel becomes ever more limited in the face of the crisis.
He said: "It's incredibly frustrating that Prince Of Arran is now stuck out in Dubai as we'd been asking over and over again if this meeting was going to go ahead and were assured that it was.
"Now the problem is getting the horse and Kelly Cochrane, the girl who is with him, back here which might not be easy.
"If we'd had an inkling that this was going to happen we wouldn't have sent the horse with the other Europeans on Friday. Quite why they left it this late to call it off I don't know but the decision obviously transcends racing."
Prince Of Arran has enjoyed a profitable global campaign since being sent to Australia at the end of 2019. A Group 3 success at Geelong in October predated an agonising defeat to Vow And Declare in the Melbourne Cup.
He advertised his wellbeing once again when third in a valuable handicap on Saudi Cup night last month.
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