Timeform's Jake Price provides the lowdown on Meydan, including trainers, jockeys and horses to follow on Saturday's Dubai World Cup card.
The end of the Cheltenham Festival heralds the beginning of spring and with it the start of Flat racing back on the turf.
While the domestic action opens this weekend with the traditional curtain raiser of the Lincoln at Doncaster, there is also the small matter of a meeting in Dubai featuring eight Group races – nine including the purebred Arabian contest which opens the card – and total prize money of $30.5 million bringing together an international challenge in the desert.
Meydan course guide
This year’s Dubai World Cup meeting will be the twelfth edition held at Meydan racecourse, which was built on the site of former host Nad Al Sheba. Originally laid with tapeta instead of a traditional dirt surface, this was later changed in time for the 2015 running, an important factor due to a lack of interest from US runners.
The Meydan track is a left-handed oval with chutes provided for various distances. Both courses are very wide and essentially flat with banked turns.
The dirt course is just under nine furlongs in circumference with a two-furlong home straight and over the years many races have been dominated by front-runners gaining the rail early on. More recently the track has ridden deep and slow at times, with the usual inside bias less prevalent.
The turf course sits outside the dirt track and is a mile and a half in distance, with a slightly longer run-in, though again a prominent pitch is generally favourable.
A trainer/jockey combination to follow
Leading the way for the home nation is the all-powerful Godolphin operation, with trainer Charlie Appleby and jockey William Buick top of the respective Carnival standings.
Appleby typically holds a strong hand in the Group Ones on World Cup night, led by the lightly-raced improver Man of Promise in the Al Quoz Sprint and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Yibir in the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Man of Promise has made massive strides this year, beating the Prix de l’Abbaye winner A Case of You by an impressive four and three quarter lengths in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint on Super Saturday.
Appleby also saddles the unbeaten Manobo in the Dubai Gold Cup, a son of Sea The Stars who will surely take all the beating in that Group Two staying event.
International raiders to look out for
No strangers to success here, as well as at most other major meetings around the world nowadays, any runners from Japan must always be taken seriously.
The Land of the Rising Sun has produced five winners of the Dubai Turf since 2007 and this year they launch a three-pronged attack led by Schnell Meister, Panthalassa and last year’s runner-up Vin de Garde.
Meanwhile, five Japanese-trained horses will attempt to follow in the footsteps of Gentildonna, who won the Sheema Classic in 2014.
Three of them have already tasted victory at the top level, namely Glory Vase, a dual winner of the Hong Kong Vase, and Shahryar and Uberleben, the winners of last season’s Japanese Derby and Oaks, respectively. Authority and Stella Veloce round out the five and both have Group One placings in the book.
Pavel Vashchenko saddled Azure Coast to win the UAE 2000 Guineas for Russia and he is aiming for the double in the UAE Derby. Both his successes at Meydan have been achieved in rather unorthodox circumstances for the track in coming from a long way off a very strong pace.
Azure Coast renews rivalries with the horses in the frame from last time, but there is a substantial challenge this time from North and South America, as well as Japan.
Life Is Good leads US into battle
Unsurprisingly, a number of horses are making the journey from the US to contest the four dirt races on the card. From Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher to what may be some lesser-known names to some, such as Mark Glatt and Saffie Joseph, they have strong contenders to look out for across the board.
The last-named pair clash in the Golden Shaheen with Dr. Schivel and Drain The Clock.
Dr. Schivel has won two Grade Ones and was narrowly denied a third when going down by a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. His last run behind the mightily impressive Flightline can be excused as he was later found to have a temperature.
Florida-based trainer Joseph has built himself a reputation with a stellar record at Gulfstream Park in the last few years and his Drain The Clock is an interesting runner. He has better form over further, including a Grade 1 victory over seven furlongs, so will no doubt appreciate a strong pace to aim at.
Last, but by no means the least, the World Cup itself. The US have a four-strong attack as they attempt to take home the most valuable prize on the card.
Doug O’Neill sent over a team to contest the Carnival and gained success, headlined by Hot Rod Charlie, who recorded an emphatic success in Round 2 of the Al Maktoum Challenge when not at full fitness. That should have blown away any cobwebs, but he’ll still have to build on that against the mighty Life Is Good, who is very much the one to beat.
And with that, the World Cup meeting brings Meydan’s season to a close. By the end of Saturday, we will have seen eight more horses carve their names on to a truly international roll of honour.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133. Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
