No Start At Goodwood for Right Dubai Prospect | Thebigtip

The Luca Cumani-trained Start Right will miss the Totesport Mile at the forthcoming Glorious Goodwood fixture having been sold to join the Makhtoum family's massive string in the Arabian Gulf where he will be prepared for a winter campaign at the Dubai Festival.

Start Right becomes the second horse in recent months to be sold by owner Leonidas Marinopoulos to the ruling family of Dubai, following their purchase of Alkimos, runner-up to Pisco Sour in the Group 3 Tercentary Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, and who is now set to run in the all blue colours of Godolphin. Those looking at the 2011 Glorious Goodwood betting would have been expecting him to do well.

Another to have raced at the royal meeting, the four-year-old Start Right followed a third place behind Dance and Dance in the Investec Mile at the Epsom Derby fixture by running a good race to come home sixth behind Julienas in the Royal Hunt Cup. On what turned out to be his last outing in Britain, the Footsteps In The Sand gelding finished runner-up to Highland Knight in the valuable Coral Challenge Handicap at Sandown at the start of July.

Although he has only won three of his 17 career starts, Sheikh Mohammed's latest acquisition has consistently run well in decent handicap company over the last couple of seasons and it appears that the Sheikh and his advisors see the potential for Cumani's charge to find his niche at the outstanding Meydan circuit and others in the desert Kingdom.

Prominent in the ante-post market for the richly endowed Totesport Mile having figured as the 10/1 joint-second favourite for the race behind the red-hot 9/2 market leader Green Destiny, Start Right's scratching from the list will no doubt result in a slight adjustment in the odds of the current principal market fancies.

Meanwhile, the Betfair Ascot Weekend 2011 is almost upon us and the event promises to be a feast of racing.