Chabal to switch to Godolphin after Dewhurst

SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S Godolphin team have struck again for one of the most promising classic prospects in Ireland with confirmation that Saturday’s Dewhurst Stakes favourite Chabal will transfer to them after this weekend.

The Galileo colt currently races in the colours of Lady O’Reilly and is a 7 to 4 ante-post favourite with Paddy Power for the Dewhurst where he will attempt to provide trainer Jim Bolger with a fourth successive victory in Britain’s most prestigious juvenile prize.

“We have been able to do a deal for Chabal whereby he will run for his current connections on Saturday and will then transfer to Godolphin after the Dewhurst,” the Godolphin spokesman Simon Crisford said yesterday. “He has been purchased entirely by us and will go to Dubai after he is finished racing this season,” he added.

Godolphin have already been busy in Ireland this autumn having snapped up the Kevin Prendergast-trained Kingsfort after that colt beat Chabal into second in last month’s National Stakes at the Curragh.

Chabal’s only other public appearance to date came at Leopardstown last month when he won a maiden on Irish Champion Stakes day. He is currently a 16 to 1 second favourite behind St Nichols Abbey in betting for next year’s Derby and Chabal is the latest Bolger-trained son of Galileo to have got Sheikh Mohammed’s chequebook into action.

The 2007 Dewhurst winner New Approach raced in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed’s wife, Princess Haya, last year which was highlighted by a memorable victory in the Epsom Derby.

Teofilo, the 2006 Dewhurst winner, never raced as a three-year-old but stands as a stallion at the Sheikh’s Darley breeding operation.

A total of 31 entries remain in Saturday’s Cork feature, the Listed Navigation Stakes over a mile, and they are headed by Jumbajukiba who could again meet David Wachman’s Latin Love, a Group Three scorer over the course and distance in August.