It was a night to remember for Emirati trainers Salem Bin Ghadayer and Musabbeh Al Mheiri, who took the two Group 1 features on Super Saturday; the official Dubai World Cup dress rehearsal.
First up was the Group 1 Maktoum Challenge Round 3 [Sponsored by Emirates Airline]; a prep for the $12million Dubai World Cup. It attracted the 1-2-3-4 from 2021’s race but Salute The Soldier couldn’t repeat his success and instead it was Hypothetical, second a year ago, who seized the win, overcoming stall 14 and leading for much of the way under Mickael Barzalona.
He was joined for part of the straight by the Bhupat Seemar-trained Remorse, but was always holding that gelding and it was a comfortable length victory – a fourth for Bin Ghadayer in this race.
“I was travelling easy all the way around,” said Barzalona. “He’s a lovely horse and what he did last season – his first on dirt, which is never easy – showed he had some great potential. Now we know he’s very good and hopefully he can go on and win the big one.”
Also eyeing World Cup night riches is Al Mheiri, who has his sights set on the Dubai Turf with Alfareeq who beat a host of talented performers in the G1 Jebel Hatta [sponsored by Emirates Airline]. They included defending champion Lord Glitters who couldn’t close fast enough this time after Alfareeq was given a good ground-saving ride by Dane O’Neill, sitting handy throughout and beating Simon Crisford’s Finest Sound by a length and a quarter.
It was by far a career best for Alfareeq, who was running over this 1800metres for just the second time, and he will now take on some of the best in the world over the same trip in three weeks.
“He’s a good horse with a turn of foot and he toughed it out tonight,” said O’Neill. “He’ll probably come back on World Cup night. Sheikha Hissa and Musabbeh will discuss that and if they think that’s the right thing to do, they will do it.
“Certainly on tonight’s effort he deserves to come back.”
On a night when the late Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum received an ‘Excellence Award’ for his contribution to racing, his Shadwell operation competed a double. Alfareeq’s win was preceded by that of Hukum in the G2 Dubai City Of Gold (sponsored by Emirates Skywards); a prep for the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic.
Trained in the UK by Owen Burrows, Hukum had four Group 3 wins to his name but this was his first strike at the top level and he needed all of his class to outbattle Without A Fight, who made him work hard for a head victory on the line of the 2410metre turf contest.
The win gave Lambourn-based trainer Burrows a perfect one from one record in Dubai, and he seemed relieved, saying: “It’s a big deal, coming to Dubai with my first runner, and it couldn’t have gone any better.
“Whatever he did today, he was going to come on plenty. Interestingly, Jim [Crowley, jockey] said that they went quickly into the bend but then didn’t go that quick so he didn’t have a hard race and he wasn’t blowing too much afterwards.
“Without Sheikh Hamdan I wouldn’t be stood here training, so for his trust and faith in me I will be forever in his debt. To set me up with this opportunity is massive. Many thanks now to his family as well for sticking by me.”
Emotional success for Dawson in Mahab Al Shimaal
The best celebration of the night came in the closing G3 Mahab Al Shimaal (sponsored by Emirates Airline); prep for the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen.
Hitherto best known for being a half-brother to dual World Cup winner Thunder Snow, Eastern World is now a Group winner himself after winning at his first attempt at this trip for trainer Ahmad Bin Harmash.
An AED220,000 purchase at the September Racing In Dubai Sale, the five-year-old was visored for this first try at sprinting and it worked beautifully, jockey Ray Dawson taking a forward position and going clear of his rivals in the straight, beating a pair of European raiders, Manjeer and Ejtilaab – the former excelling on his dirt debut.
“He’s a Dubawi so you keep believing in the horse,” said winning trainer Bin Harmash, enjoying a stellar season. “He has run over different distances but this is his best trip and he did not disappoint us today. He has a lot of speed and likes Meydan, so hopefully he will come back for the Golden Shaheen.”
On a night where the local trainers excelled on their home turf – and dirt – handler Ahmed Al Shemaili celebrated his biggest win to date when Desert Wisdom caused the shock of the night in the G3 Burj Nahaar [sponsored by Emirates SkyCargo.]
A mere AED70,000 purchase at the September Racing In Dubai Sale, the Dubawi gelding was given a rail-skimming ride by Adrie De Vries and the gaps opened where they needed to for a length and a half success over Mubakker, with Tuz third.
It was just a second career success for Desert Wisdom after his December Jebel Ali score, and a first pattern race win for Al Shemaili, who trains on Musabbeh Al Mheiri’s farm in Sharjah.
“We got this horse from Godolphin, so you would expect him to be good,” said the trainer. “He’s a consistent horse who only ran one bad race, last time [when ninth in the G3 Jebel Ali Mile]. I expected him to run well, but he’s surprised me with the win. Hopefully we will take him to the Godolphin Mile.”
Appleby unveils a new sprinting star
It would be a rare Super Saturday without a Godolphin success and the home team collected a double, initiated when Man Of Promise put up the performance of the night in the G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint [sponsored by Emirates SkyCargo].
Only eighth in this race last year, the Charlie Appleby-trained gelding is the real deal in 2022 and he put daylight between himself and his 15 rivals, kicking clear from before the three furlong marker and beating Group 1 winner A Case Of You by four and three-quarter lengths.
It was a fourth win in this race for Appleby, who may have found a successor to the great Blue Point, winner of this in 2019.
“He’s got a sprinter’s back end on him now,” said the trainer of Man Of Promise. “He’s not the most robust fellow in the world but he’s done very well of late. As William [Buick, jockey] said, if he can do the same in three weeks’ time then we’re dealing with a potential Al Quoz Sprint winner. We’ll keep him as calm as we possibly can.”
On the Al Quoz, in which he also has Group 1 winner Creative Force, Appleby added; “It’s going to be a great race as some of these horses are going to come forward as well. We’ve had the run out here and we’ve got home advantage coming into the race, but you’ve got the Emaaraty Anas and I’m sure they’ll all come forward. It will be a different race on World Cup night, as it always is.”
Appleby’s Godolphin colleague Saeed Bin Suroor wasn’t to be outdone and he picked up a win of his own, taking the new $300,000 Ras Al Khor Stakes, over 1400metres on turf, with the hugely progressive Storm Damage.
The four-year-old is now five from seven career after recording his second course and distance win in a row, this time in the hands of Frankie Dettori. The four-year-old led home a Godolphin 1-2-3-4, confirming form with stablemate Mutafawwig by a length and three-quarters.
“He’s improving all the time, this is his fifth win,” said Bin Suroor. “He’s one of the nicer horses that we have in the stable.
“We’ll keep the options open for him; maybe take him to the Godolphin Mile or maybe further. The surface [in the Godolphin Mile, dirt] is a question mark, but he ran on the all-weather before and he won well. Frankie said the mile would not be a problem. He could be a Royal Ascot horse.”
Cintra’s superb Dubai season continues
Uruguay-based Brazilian trainer Antonio Cintra’s bold move to set up a Dubai satellite yard this season has been rewarded already, but the outfit celebrated their biggest success of the campaign to date when Quality Boone won the Listed Al Bastikiya, the prep for the G2 UAE Derby.
As a Southern Hemisphere-bred, Quality Boone had to carry four and a half kilos more than his 11 rivals, but he made light of it, coming with a sustained run under Vagner Leal to take up pole position once longtime leader Bendoog had cried enough. The result was a comprehensive length and a quarter win over the Fawzi Nass-trained Withering.
It was a third win of the season for Cintra, who now goes to March 26th with a strong team, having Aero Trem under consideration for the World Cup or Godolphin Mile.
“The horse was doing very good after the last race [UAE 2000 Guineas],” he said. “We wanted to run here because we didn’t want to go straight to the Derby. I think that race over 1900metres should be good for him because the horse showed today that his final sprint was fantastic. Today the track was open for him and it was easy for Leal.”
Speaking of easy, it was just that for the winner of the opening G1 Maktoum Challenge Round 3 for Arabians [sponsored by Arabian Adventures], a prep for the G1 Dubai Kahayla Classic. Jugurtha De Monlau had been beaten in all five previous UAE starts since arriving from France but relished his first spin on the Meydan dirt. Ridden by Fernando Jara for Al Ain-based trainer Jean-Claude Pecout, the six-year-old soon led and stayed there throughout, extending his advantage at the line to five and a half lengths over stablemate and defending champion Brraq.
“When we brought this horse to the UAE he had a bit of a breathing problem,” revealed the winning trainer. “But thankfully he’s recovered from that. The plan was to ride him from the front, which Fernando did very well.
“We will now wait for an invitation to the Kahayla Classic.”
They’re not the only ones waiting for that all-important invitation to return to Meydan on March 26th. Dubai World Cup day 2022 is shaping up very nicely indeed.