AUSTRALIA`S TOP MILER COULD RACE IN BRITAIN

Australasian champion Sunline could race in Britain this year, it emerged today.

The six-year-old is now is unlikely to race at the Dubai World Cup meeting in March.

She has been at the Sandown quarantine facility in Melbourne since her return from her Hong Kong Mile success last month where she stamped herself as a world-class performer with a short-head victory over Fairy King Prawn.

Sunline will be flown to New Zealand on Friday and while she spends a couple of quiet weeks at home, trainers Trevor and Stephen McKee will consider other northern hemisphere options.

'At the moment Dubai is only a possibility,' Stephen McKee told the official AAP website. 'It would be a pressure cooker for just one race.

'We`ve been looking at the programs for England and the United States and there are a lot of nice races between April and August that would suit her.'

If Sunline did go to Dubai it would be for a turf race on the same card as the World Cup, which is run on dirt on March 24.

'I don`t think sand would suit her,' McKee said. 'It seems to suit the American style of racing and I think the English racing would suit her better.

'That`s also why I don`t really think American racing would be right for her, and dirt probably wouldn`t be her best surface.

'There are races in America restricted to mares but we are keener to take on all-comers.'

Before that happens, Sunline could well come up against her own sex in a defence of the Coolmore Classic at Rosehill on the same weekend as the Dubai meeting.

The race is the only Group One event in Australia restricted to fillies and mares with a top weight of 9st 6lb which Sunline carried to victory last year.

'The Coolmore is a race she could win and the Sydney autumn carnival could well be where we head again,' McKee said.

Sunline has been kept at top fitness with workouts at Sandown during her quarantine.

'She was starting to get a bit fat so she`s been working pretty hard over the past week,' McKee said.

'She`s still very fit and will only be having a short break when she gets home.'