Mick Appleby's top sprinter Annaf remains in Dubai after catching pneumonia before World Cup night run

Annaf is unlikely to run until at least Glorious Goodwood after contracting pneumonia before he was due to participate on Dubai World Cup night last month, according to trainer Mick Appleby.

Owned by Fosnic Racing, Annaf had been one of the leading contenders for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint but was ruled out of the contest with a “respiratory infection”. Annaf had finished a close second to Diligent Harry, who went on to be third in the Al Quoz Sprint, in a Listed race at Lingfield in February.

Appleby said: “Annaf caught pneumonia on the plane over to Dubai and he’s still out there at the moment. He’s going in the right direction now and hopefully he’ll be coming home next week. 

“What’s happened is going to set the horse back for the season. We might get him back for Goodwood [starts on July 30] but we’ll have to see how he is and take it from there.”

Prior to his health setback, Annaf had secured the biggest success of his career when skimming around the inside rail under jockey Rossa Ryan to capture the $2 million Group 2 Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint on Saudi Cup night at Riyadh.

The five-year-old, bought as an unraced two-year-old by Appleby for 16,000gns (£16,800/€19,631) from owner-breeder Shadwell Estates, also finished last season with a flourish when winning the Portland at Doncaster and the Group 3 Bengough Stakes at Ascot.

The victory in Saudi Arabia was Appleby’s second major international prize of the winter after stable star Big Evs had triumphed in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita for owners RP Racing.

However, the trainer was also hit with another setback for his yard this week when Raasel, the Group 3-winning sprinter for the Horse Watchers syndicate, was retired after sustaining an injury during what was described as a “routine piece of work”.

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