Halford's hopes for Wild Dude Mick Halford is hopeful Wild Dude can get his winter campaign back on track on 'Super Saturday' at Meydan. Formerly a high-class sprinter in America, the seven-year-old made his debut for Halford when beaten in Seoul last September. He made a promising start to his stint in Dubai with consecutive placed efforts, but finished down the field when well fancied for a seven-furlong handicap in mid-February. Wild Dude returns to six furlongs for the Group Three Mahab Al Shimaal. Halford said: "He was disappointing the last day and we didn't find any reason for it. "We had him checked out and couldn't find anything, but he seems in good form since and we're just putting a line through it. "Before that he'd run two very solid races and we're hoping for another good run on Saturday." Wild Dude features in a 10-strong field that includes Charlie Appleby's course and distance winner Comicas. The star attraction on the night is Postponed, who kicks off what connections hope will be another profitable campaign when he bids for back-to-back victories in the Dubai City of Gold. A narrow winner of the King George at Ascot two years ago when trained by Luca Cumani, Postponed was then moved across Newmarket to Roger Varian's yard and made a successful start for his new trainer in this Group Two event 12 months ago. That victory ignited a near-perfect campaign, with the six-year-old following up in the Dubai Sheema Classic before adding to his top-level tally in the Coronation Cup at Epsom and the Juddmonte International at York. He was beaten into fifth place when hot favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe when last seen, but having enjoyed a winter break, he will be widely expected to get 2017 off to a successful start. Varian said: "He worked on Wednesday morning and went nicely, so we're looking forward to Saturday. "I'd say he's in similar shape to how he was 12 months ago. We're happy with him and he's fit enough to do himself justice, but hopefully he'll improve."
