Dubai: Versac PY will be handed another chance to make his trainer Erwan Charpy’s dreams come true after recording an imposing victory in the third and final round of the Al Maktoum Challenge for Purebred Arabians, the opening race on Super Saturday’s big-race card at Meydan.
The eighth-year-old has always been held in high regard by Frenchman Charpy, who admits to dreaming about winning the Group 1 $1 million (Dh3.67 million) Dubai Kahayla Classic on Dubai World Cup night.
He hopes that Versac PY, a horse that has won eight times under his tutelage since 2010, has found the winning formula to make it happen.
“Arabian horses have always been very special for me, we have always had a strong relationship with them,” said Charpy, following Versac’s 3 1/4length victory over Af Lafeh.
“Even if we have a quiet year, we always had one Arabian who pulled us out of the water. We had some lovely horses like Santhal, Dhaffaq and of course Versac.
“But yes, the Kahayla Classic is a race I’ve always wanted to win because of this association with Arabians, it’s something that I will really enjoy.”
Charpy said he was not in the least surprised at Versac’s latest win in a race where he was narrowly denied by Raziq 12 months ago. “I thought he would run well because he did a fantastic piece of work the other day, which I had not seen him do for a long time,” said the Green Stables boss. “Both Paul [Hanagan] and I were very excited because he showed his spark again and looked like the old Versac.
“Obviously we’ll take our chances again in the big race [Kahayla Classic], but we still have our little secret weapon [Manark]. We working on getting him to relax and stay. Yes it will be very exciting to have two horses in the Classic.”
