Daliapour was yesterday ruled out of next weekend's Singapore Airlines International Cup - but his place could be taken by stablemate Indigenous, who will gallop at Sha Tin this morning before trainer Ivan Allan decides whether to send him to Kranji.
Daliapour has been suffering from lameness in his near foreleg since finishing sixth in the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup on his latest outing, and Allan decided to give him a break after discussing the matter with owner Robert Ng Chee-siong.
'I'm still not happy with him and he's taken a long time to bounce back from his last run. I have talked things over with the owner, and we decided it would be best to give Singapore a miss. It's disappointing, but there are a lot of big races he can go for and the long-term aim is still the Japan Cup in November.'
Allan added that Daliapour could still run in the ING Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup on May 20, which had been pencilled in for the 1997 and '98 winner Indigenous. The prospect of a switch to Singapore on May 12 for Indigenous sets up another mouth-watering clash with Silvano and Jim And Tonic, who beat him into third place on his latest outing in the QE II Cup.
Allan confirmed yesterday that Plenty-Plenty is still on course for the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Sprint on the same card, a 1,200-metre event which is also set to feature Active Bo Bo from Macau.