One thing is certain about opening night (Jan. 3) of the Dubai World Cup Carnival: if Settle for Bay wins the co-featured Group 3 US$200,000 Singspiel Stakes, there will likely be one robust celebration afterward. Owned by Dennis McGettigan’s McGettigan’s Management Services JLT and Maurice Casey—the former synonymous with McGettigan’s Irish Pub, a Dubai chain and staple of the local hospitality industry—the David Marnane-trained gelding has every right to step up to the challenge.
“He’s settled in well and travelled over great,” Marnane reported. “He did a little hack around there this morning and it’s so far, so good with him. At the moment, the Singspiel is what we are looking at for him. He had a stone bruise a few weeks after Ascot, so we got into a situation where we had to give him a break and couldn’t come back in time for Ascot’s Champions Weekend (in mid-October), so we bit the bullet and gave him the whole time off to point for Dubai.”
The French-bred son of Godolphin’s multiple Group 1 winner and 2012 Dubai Turf (G1) alumni Rio de la Plata is exiting a 2018 season in which he gave his connections the thrill of a lifetime when last seen, winning Royal Ascot’s popular Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap) over 1600m in June. Defeating no less than 29 foes that day, he sprinted clear in the final 100m, winning by a decisive 2¼ lengths and leaving in his wake 2018 Carnival winner Hors de Combat, The Queen’s 2019 Carnival hopeful Seniority and multiple Group 3 winner Circus Couture.
“He’s been fantastic for the yard and fantastic for the owner,” Marnane continued. “It felt pretty great to win at Ascot and the manner in which he won makes me think we don’t know how good he is yet. He’s
improving all the time. We’ve had success in Dubai and any horse we have who fits the bill, we try to bring them. He suits the conditions and likes the top of the ground (good-to-firm turf). He’s stepped up every time for us.”
A winner of six of his 13 lifetime starts, Settle for Bay has won five of his previous six tries; all over 1600m. He will have to step up to 1800m in the Singspiel against tougher competition, but has shown marked improvement over the last year and has proven he can win fresh. Additionally, five of his six victories have been around a left-handed bend and his conditioner, a former local assistant to Kiaran McLaughlin and later Doug Watson, has had ample success of his own bringing horses to Dubai. Said honour roll includes Carnival winners and Group 1 performers Jamesie and Elleval—the latter of whom was second in the 2013 UAE Derby (G2).