Levins eyes Dubai gold for Prisoner's Dilemma

Prisoner's Dilemma may have opened up a trip to Dubai with a smooth-travelling success in the Sycamore Lodge Equine Hospital Handicap at the Curragh.

The six-year-old gelding carried top-weight of 10st 3lb in this six-furlong sprint but it didn't phase him at all.

Joey Sheridan got cover behind the leaders and his partner absolutely tanked into contention approaching the final furlong. He readily picked off Sister Rosetta inside the final furlong and asserted in the final 100 yards to win by two and a half lengths.

He paid favourite backers at 3/1. Sister Rosetta was outgunned in second at 9/1, but was half a length in front of Sunset Nova (12/1).

“It was a lovely performance. I was a little bit worried turning him out again very quickly,” said Johnny Levins.

“The idea of running the last day was just to sharpen him up. I have him in the Constantine Stakes at York and in the Ayr Gold Cup and he just needed to learn a little bit more as he's only started sprinting this year.

“I was very happy with the way he travelled and finished out in Tipperary and I knew it would wake him up.

“This was a little bit of an afterthought, when I saw the race I thought if he came out of his race well he'd be very alive from the five and hopefully he would do something like that.

“I'm very pleased but now I'm not sure whether we'll go to York or Ayr as I might put him away and train him for Dubai.

“It's a nice headache to have and we'll discuss it with the owners and see what way we want to do it.

“If you are going to Dubai you have to make a decision half way through the season and train him for it.

“I can't be taking on the big races and then going to Dubai as an afterthought to be fair to the horse.

“I think he is tailormade for Dubai, off a fast pace he comes there with one good run. He could pick up a lot of place money and, if they go hard, he could land on the line.

“If I've ever had a horse tailormade for Dubai, it's him. Dubai will be first preference.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson