Suroor confident Ramonti has what it takes

Saeed bin Suroor has trained some of the world's best horses over the past 12 years, winning more than 100 Group One races including a Hong Kong Cup with Fantastic Light seven years ago, so the mountain he must climb on Sunday with Ramonti does not look as steep as it may to some.

Suroor is first trainer to Godolphin, the Sheikh Mohammed-inspired and led team of horsemen whose collective agenda is to plunder Group One races wherever they may be staged around the world.

Ramonti almost personifies what Godolphin does - identifying exciting young horses when they are poised to arrive at the top level and acquiring them. In Ramonti's case, it happened after last year's Hong Kong Mile, in which he tried to lead throughout before finishing a valiant third to The Duke and Armada.

The neat black horse has been a revelation since joining 'the boys in blue', winning three of his five starts and becoming Europe's champion miler at the Cartier awards just over three weeks ago.

'All his runs this year have been at a mile, but on Sunday we are taking him to 2,000 metres for the first time,' Suroor said yesterday. 'Of course, we could have simply put him in the Mile but we are keen to see how he goes at 2,000m because if he succeeds, it opens up a whole new range of possibilities for him next year - races like the Eclipse Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes.'

Suroor, who turned 39 last month, was brought up with horses and enjoyed riding and working with them from an early age.

He was an officer of the police force in Dubai but started training a few horses and then came to the attention of Godolphin's founder, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who sent him 30 horses in 1992.