Connections of Dividend are planning an appearance at Royal Ascot before targeting further international success, after he had to make do with the silver medal in his bid for a Meydan hat-trick on Super Saturday.
The four-year-old has enjoyed a profitable winter in the Middle East, winning two valuable handicaps in Dubai before finishing second behind Simon and Ed Crisford’s Quddwah in the Group Two Singspiel Stakes.
While a final run in Dubai on World Cup night is not out of the question, it appears more likely his next assignment will be on home soil.
Jamie Insole, who trains Dividend in partnership with Dr Richard Newland, said: “You’ve got to have in the back of your mind that you could get invited to the Dubai Turf, but I’d say that is unlikely at the moment.
“The main target looks like the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot. That’s a race that me and Rossa (Ryan, jockey) have both spoken about and he seems a prime candidate for that.
“After that, we’ll probably go pot-hunting around the world. We’ve looked at Kentucky Downs, possibly the Arlington Million as well in America, but I think a really good target for him would be the Bahrain International – that race would be made for him.
“We’ll then probably look to go back to the Middle East and to Saudi for the Neom Cup. All these races look made for him, – he loves fast ground, he’s now going to be rated high enough and he loves coming from off the pace.
“I think he’s a horse that can really pick up some serious prize-money in the next 12 months.”
It was a British one-two-three in the Singspiel Stakes, with Quddwah and Dividend followed home by Karl Burke’s stable stalwart Holloway Boy.
Dividend will have a break before his intended run in Berkshire, with Insole thrilled by his recent performances.
“What a superstar. We bought him for £50,000 and he’s won nearly £150,000 out there,” he added.
“He was one of the first yearlings we bought and he’s been a credit to everyone since he’s been out there. He should have won first time out, but he got into a bit of trouble in running.
“He’s won two really competitive handicaps and he looked like a stakes horse, and he sort of cemented that on Saturday.
“I thought it was a really good performance in a race that was falsely run – Quddwah got first run on us.
“We aren’t making any excuses for him though, we were delighted with how he ran and it was only eight days after his previous race.
“It was a quick turnaround, so he deserves a bit of a break now, and there’s bigger and better targets to come.”
