RACING: Johannesburg's part owner Michael Tabor has said the unbeaten two-year-old champion of last season will be prepared for the Kentucky Derby instead of the 2,000 Guineas on May 4th.
Tabor also said the Gladness Stakes at the Curragh on April 7th will be Johannesburg's warm-up race for the American classic and the colt will not have a run in the US prior to the Derby.
The Thoroughbred Times in the US quoted Tabor: "He will run in the Gladness and then go for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4th.
"There will be no prep race in America. It isn't exactly ideal, is it? I'm sure we'll get castigated if it doesn't work out but I don't train the horses, I just pay the bills."
Johannesburg is also a warm ante-post favourite for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on the back of a seven out of seven win tally last season that included Group One wins in four different countries.
Aidan O'Brien confirmed the Gladness, which the Ballydoyle trainer won with Giant's Causeway in 2,000, is a possible start off for Johannesburg. "Like all the others, he is cantering and it is so far, so good with them. We won't know more until the spring," he said yesterday.
In the meantime, O'Brien's focus is on Istabraq's attempt for a fourth Champion Hurdle victory in 18 days' time. The trainer has not ruled out a day away for the horse next week.
"He will do a bit of work in the next few days and we will see how forward he is. If he needs it, we might take him for a day away somewhere," O'Brien said.
