Appleby-Buick treble includes two Group race features
Dubai racing fans have grown used to the brilliance of trainer Charlie Appleby, but rarely does the Godolphin handler unveil a horse as exciting as Manobo.
Now five from five in his career, the son of Sea The Stars produced a devastating performance in the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy (Presented by DP World UAE), the official feature on the sixth Carnival card at Meydan Racecourse.
Ridden with plenty of confidence by jockey William Buick, the four-year-old was far too good for his 14 rivals, kicking clear in the straight and beating East Asia by five and a quarter lengths.
It was a record-equaling fourth win in this race for Appleby and a third for Buick, who could not fail to be impressed with his mount’s turn of foot at the end of the 2810metre distance.
“The team had him in lovely shape for tonight,” he said. “I think he can come up in trip, or he could even come down. He’s very versatile and that’s just what you want to see after a long layoff.”
The G2 Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night, March 26th, could well be next for Manobo, a race his handler won in 2019 with Cross Counter.
On a night when three of Appleby’s four runners came home triumphant, it was Lazuli who took the evening’s Group 2, the Blue Point Sprint (Presented by Jebel Ali Port) over 1000metres on turf.
The five-year-old was a good second to stablemate Man Of Promise over 1200metres here last time and appreciated this lesser trip, being ridden with confidence by Buick and collecting a length and a half success over British raider Acklam Express.
“His best form is over five furlongs (1000m) and he really confirmed that tonight,” said Buick. “He looks like a proper speed horse now. He’s now a Group 2 winner and it would be nice to get a Group 1 next to his name.”
Another with a Group target lying in wait is surely Valiant Prince, who ran out the emphatic winner of the closing Mina Rashid Handicap for – you guessed it – Buick and Appleby. Successful in a non-Carnival handicap last month, the son of Dubawi was much more impressive here, sitting just off a face pace and powering to a three and a half-length win over Dubai Mirage.
“This is a horse who we’ve fancied every time he’s run,” said Appleby. “He’s that sort of a workhorse at home and he’s doing everything right.”
The trainer confirmed that the gelding will now head back to the UK, where he holds an entry for the prestigious Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster on March 26th.
There was one race that didn’t go Appleby’s way, but it took a photo finish to beat Silent Speech in the 1200metre Al Wasl Stakes (Presented by Marfa Deira). This time it was his Godolphin colleague Saeed Bin Suroor who collected the trophy courtesy of the filly Wild Place, who just got up by a short head under Pat Cosgrave.
A maiden prior to this, the three-year-old daughter of Mehmas reversed form with Appleby’s runner from their previous encounter, improving hugely for that first start since her debut in June.
“She was a little bit weak, we didn’t want to put pressure on her,” said Bin Suroor of the six-month absence. “When you looked at her closely you could see that there was nothing there which is why we gave her time between races.
“There are no more races for her, as we’re close to Super Saturday, so we’ll take her back to Newmarket.”
While Wild Place has a bright future, the role of the night’s most fabulous filly goes to Shahama, who extended her unbeaten record to four in the G3 UAE Oaks (Presented by JAFZA).
Fawzi Nass’ filly missed the break, faced plenty of kickback and had to circle the whole field, but was still far too good for her six rivals, beating the promising Arabian Gazelles by two lengths. She might have done it the hard way, but jockey Adrie De Vries is undaunted in his belief in the daughter of Munnings.
“She was very upset today because of the screen, the music, [the start being in] the straight,” he said. “She jumped a bit awkward because she was sitting down in the gate.
“It was a little bit awkward as there were a few horses who couldn’t bring me to the leader, so I had to go wide to get her out of the kickback, but she did it very easy.”
The evening’s other dirt race, the 1400metre Mina Hamriya Handicap, went to Imperial Empire, who bounced back to his best under a front-running Tadhg O’Shea ride. Trained by Bhupat Seemar, this was a fourth course success for the five-year-old, who may have done enough to earn an invitation to the Group 2 Godolphin Mile on March 26th.