Idaho 'entitled to run' as O'Brien seeks second Sheema Classic success Idaho bids to provide Aidan O'Brien with his second success in the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Saturday. The Ballydoyle handler has become a more regular visitor to Dubai in recent years and St Nicholas Abbey was a facile winner of this race in 2013. Idaho has not yet struck gold at the highest level and makes his UAE debut in a race his older brother Highland Reel twice contested, but failed to win. O'Brien said: "He went across to America and Canada a few times and it took us a while to get his travelling routine right. His best run was when he finished fifth in the Japan Cup. "He is entitled to run well on Saturday, as he's a bit more experienced. He has a nice draw in two and seems to have travelled well, so we're hopeful." He added: "It would be massive (to have a winner at the meeting), you come and try, you can't expect, you have to hope and we realise it's tough and competitive." The mile-and-a-half turf contest has unsurprisingly been farmed by the European contingent and there is another strong raiding party in this year's renewal. Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor saddle Hawkbill and Best Solution respectively, while there is a third Godolphin representative in Andre Fabre's Cloth Of Stars. The five-year-old was runner-up to Enable in last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and finished second to stablemate and Dubai World Cup hope Talismanic on his return to action at Chantilly earlier this month. Fabre, who won the Sheema Classic with Polish Summer in 2004, is in confident mood. He said: " Cloth Of Stars must have a good chance. A stronger pace will suit him and we are quite confident." The Clive Cox-trained Khalidi, David Simcock's Desert Encounter and Sir Michael Stoute's Poet's Word make the journey from Britain. Poet's Word was second in the Irish Champion and the Champion Stakes last season and was last seen finishing sixth in the Hong Kong Cup in December. Bruce Raymond, racing manager for owner Saeed Suhail, said: "He appears to be in very good form and I think he's pretty fit. Sir Michael never sends them there unfit. "Ryan Moore rode him in a piece of work a couple of weeks ago and Frankie (Dettori) rode him in his final piece of work last week and both of them were very happy. "I certainly think this is his best distance. Circumstances meant he was mainly campaigned over a mile and a quarter last season, but I think a mile and a half is definitely what he wants." A trio of Japanese runners in Mozu Katchan, Rey De Oro and Satono Crown make up the 10-strong field.
