Gamilati continued her brilliant run with ease, landing the UAE 1,000 Guineas (Listed), her second easy win of the season.  After taking the Guineas trial in January, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum indicated she would likely run in the Guineas proper and then head off for the UK.  That, however, could change after His Highness changed his tune following a score with the greatest of ease.

Hitchens (outside, below) supported his backers as Silvestre DeSousa made it a double on the day, taking the Al Shindagha Sprint (G3) over the in-form Krypton Factor (inside, stripes).  The Singapore train came to an end when Ip Man went awry in the first race of the day and Captain Obvious ran well in this event, but could only manage fourth.  Presumably, the solid performances in this sprint race, a prep for the Dubai Golden Shaheen, will move forward to the Mahab Al Shimaal (G3) on Super Saturday.

Racing continues at Meydan on Thursday evening with the most prestigious night of the Carnival yet, featuring the Firebreak Stakes (G3), the UAE 2000 Guineas (G3), and the Maktoum Challenge – R2 (G2).  Jebel Ali races on Friday and Abu Dhabi next Sunday.

Both the first two finishers are owned by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons, with the winner trained by Bader Resaque while Fly Down is trained by Baden Al Subaie.  Holding an entry in the Dubai World Cup, it would be no surprise to see Fly Down back at Meydan. Kreem, by Hurricane Run out of the Rainbow Quest mare, En Public, holds an entry in the 3,200-metre Dubai Gold Cup (G3) and would make plenty of sense to appear on behalf of the Kingdom.

Early pacesetters and former Dubai Carnival/World Cup programme participants El Amarillista and Amor De Pobre kept an attentive pace before Fly Down moved to the lead with stablemate Sairoor with less than 600 metres to run.  The move, however, came much too soon, and leads to an entirely different discussion concerning European jockey bookings on a dirt course.  Fly Down, under Johnny Murtagh, was known as the type that prefers being ridden from well off the pace, but in this spot, he breaks fast, settles better than mid-division, and found himself in front much sooner than is his normal running syle.  Meanwhile, Kreem, under Roberto Perez, gets the trip more typical of Fly Down, circling horses wide around the far turn, angling into contention, and running down stablemate Fly Down to win by a neck, despite lugging-in through much of the extended drive.

DubaiRaceNight.com thanks Ali Dammas for posting video of the race to Youtube.  Fly Down races wearing saddle towel #6 and a black cap. Kreem has a blue saddletowel, racing as #3.  Leaving the backstretch, Kreem is 11th on the rail with a white cap.

Fly Down, third in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) behind Blame and Zenyatta when with Nick Zito, and running into all sorts of trouble in the first turn of the 2011 Dubai World Cup (G1), is the anticipated favourite in the field of 18.  Johnny Murtagh will be in Riyadh to ride for trainer Baden Al Subaie.  Owned by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and sons, Fly Down emerged victorious over the same trip in the Crown Prince Cup (G2) on 6 January, winning by 5.5 lengths.  The second, third, fifth, sixth, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth finishers from that race all come back to run in this event.

The two that would draw the most interest are former Brian Meehan trainee Robust Wish, second in the Crown Prince Cup and third home, Step In Time.  The former was two from nine on all-weather in the UK before shipping to Saudi in late 2010, and will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire.  Meanwhile, the latter now races for Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz, who finished third after suffering a wide trip from gate 18 in the Crown Prince Cup.  Step in Time is by Giant’s Causeway out of Cash Run, winner of the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and used to be with Mark Johnston in the UK.

In past years, the domestic edition of the King’s Cup has yielded some faster races, often leading to the questioning of the quality of the result from the imported race.  As such, the winner of the last two King’s Cups have not traveled to Dubai while some hard luck runners did make the trip, most recently being Amor De Pobre in the 2010 edition.

Muller (racing in Saudi as Alsaqr), has drawn post 17 for the imported King’s Cup, and was fourth in the 2009 Dubai World Cup, beaten nineteen lengths by Well Armed.  Paris Perfect, his stablemate, was third in the race, representing the best finishes for Saudi Arabia in the world’s richest race.  Most recently, Muller finished a distant 16th in the Crown Prince Cup as a newly-turned 9-year-old.

DubaiRaceNight.com will post video of the race when it is made available on YouTube via our Saudi contacts.

Bold Silvano, off since that win last February, is expected for the Firebreak Stakes (G3) over 1,600 metres, while Master of Hounds is the stable’s choice for the Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (G2), a race upgraded to Group 2 status this season, over 1,900 metres.  On the surface, both horses are considered Dubai World Cup chances, but will approach the race in different fashions.  In 2011, Bold Silvano was viewed as a likely lukewarm favourite for the race before suffering some nagging minor injuries after his Dubai debut win.

DeKock also reported that Boby Di Job, a recent private purchase from Uruguay, has joined the team in Dubai.  ”The intention is to run him in the UAE Derby,” said deKock.  Boby Di Job took two legs of the Uruguayan Triple Crown and is a winner of five from eight races.

While Musir’s exploits from last week, winning the Al Rashidiya (G2), have been well noted, deKock added more thoughts on Meydan handicap winner Mutahadee.  ”His performance was very pleasing as he hadn’t done much.  He looks top class.”  The Trakus data from Mutahadee’s win uncovered a final 200-metre timing in 10.54 seconds, the fastest winning final split in a turf route at Meydan in the last two seasons.

This week at Meydan, deKock starts the Mauritian champion Disa Leader and returning fourth in the UAE Derby Zanzamar in the first race of the night.  He also has Rerouted going in the Al Shindagha Sprint (G3), part-owned by top golfer Lee Westwood.  Through 21 starters this season, the deKock team has four wins and four placings.

“She almost had no right to win,” said trainer Mike de Kock.  ”I feel she was 90 percent today, I’m humbled by this performance.  It’s been a great performance.  I feel if she wasn’t here today, it wouldn’t have been the same.”

“We had to travel 18 hours to get down here.  These champions seem to get over it, lesser horses wouldn’t.  She didn’t have that early gate speed, but what she’s been through, locked up in quarantine from dawn until dusk, it hasn’t been easy. With the slow pace, I was expecting to see us in front. It probably shows she wasn’t at her best.  It’s not easy when you train horses like this, but fortunately, the people who own her, everyone has faith in the team, trust in the team.”

While she might not have been at her best, it makes the gutty late stretch heroics even more thrilling. De Kock indicates Igugu would stay in South Africa and aim for defence of her title in the Vodacom Durban July if she couldn’t get to Dubai for next year’s season.

Well, the Steven Burridge show continued when Dark Matter (below, left) scored his second win of the Carnival as many tries, taking a 1,400 metres turf event, defeating the highly regarded Albaasil and earlier Carnival winner Time Prisoner.

The team has indicated that Dark Matter will now be aimed at the UAE 2,000 Guineas over a mile as the campaign lumbers on, but this win, against multiple older winners, was very impressive, even in light of its narrow margin.

Godolphin’s Sarrsar and stablemate Capponi (below, right) dueled in an epic finish, where the former forged to the front and idled ever-so-slightly, allowing Capponi to surge back when the result seemed determined.  The win was the a reversal from the first race of the 2012 Carnival when Sarrsar went by, taking full advantage of a weight break.  On the level, these two did the handicapper proud.   Before the race, in an interview with Dubai Racing Channel, trainer Saeed bin Suroor indicated his hopes to get Sarrsar into stakes company soon enough.

TRAKUS AND DEKOCK WINNERS

It’s worth revisiting a nugget of data from last week’s racing at Meydan.  Courtesy of the Trakus timings, Mike de Kock trainee Mutahadee absolutely bolted home when winning a race over 1,800 metres on grass.  His individual sectional timings for the race are as follows:

400m – 27.73
800m – 52.35 (24.62)
1200m – 1:16.97 (24.62)
1600m – 1:39.45 (22.48)
1800m – 1:49.99  (10.54)

Yes, that’s right, Mutahadee finished his final 200-metre segment in a lightning 10.54 seconds when winning over stablemate Viscount Nelson, who came home in 10.67 seconds.  Both are absolutely stellar performances, especially if you considered them in light of the final sectionals for this week’s Al Rashidiya (G2).  Musir’s final 200-metre split went in 11.43 seconds over the same going but with a significantly slower pace at the 1,800 metres distance.

TREBLE JIG ON THE CLIMB

Both literally and figuratively, Treble Jig (pictured below) continues the climb up the rankings after three incredibly impressive wins in the UAE this season.  The son of Gone West landed his second consecutive stakes race of the campaign after taking Friday’s Jebel Ali Mile (Listed).  Under Wayne Smith again, he raced with prominence and held sway coming up the hill at Jebel Ali, where he had scored a rousing 10-length tally in the Jebel Ali Stakes (Listed) two weeks ago.  The plan is to find more races over ground at Meydan, with an aim for Dubai World Cup night.  Read more about Treble Jig from Gulf News.

Kilt Rock’s streak of wins ended at four when he may have hit the lead too soon and lifted, allowing the late running Kanaf, ironically ridden by Tadhg O’Shea, to come and catch him.  The final time for the race was, by far, the fastest 1,200 metres of the season at Jebel Ali, and should set both horses up well for the Jebel Ali Sprint (Listed) later in the season.

Steven Burridge.

That is all.

What a run, eh?  The prime story to emerge from the fourth and fifth meetings of the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival starts and stops with the Singapore invasion from trainer Steven Burridge.  Bringing four horses to Dubai for the Carnival, he’s recorded three consecutive wins, and all reports indicated his first horse to run, Apache Crown, was really just a throw-in to the entire proceedings.  That being said, Apache Crown, under a ride a long way out in a 1000-metre turf race a week ago, stayed on for a highly-credible fourth behind repeat winner Addictive Dream.

Captain Obvious (pictured below, grey, first), under Oscar Chavez, dispatched a quality field of sprinters en route to trainer Steven Burridge’s second winner of the season.   The race was full of hard luck stories, most especially for our selection, Alo Pura, who got absolutely no room to run under William Buick.  The Singapore train continued on Saturday when Ip Man (pictured below, second) landed the featured event, lowering the course record by more than .30 seconds.  As reported last week, several more raiders from Singapore are expected for later in the Carnival.

As always, all pictures courtesy EERC/Cedric Lane – to purchase these and more, email UAERacingPictures @ gmail . com.

Ip Man’s course record was not the only new mark set as Bawadi (pictured below, left, red and white) lowered the bar for horses racing over 1,900 metres after a strange series of events.  The stewards’ report from the Emirates Racing Authority covered the situation.

“After being loaded into the starting gates, BAWADI (USA) (P Cosgrave) got its hind leg caught on the gate. BAWADI (USA) was removed from the starting gates, examined by the ERA Veterinary Officer and passed fit to start. After BAWADI (USA) was reloaded into the starting gates, it again got its hind leg caught in the gate and was again removed and examined by the ERA Veterinary Officer. At this time there was some confusion as to whether BAWADI (USA) was passed fit to start, and there was a level of breakdown in communications between the ERA Veterinary Officer and Assistant Starter and Starter, whereby announcements were made oncourse that the horse was scratched. However, it was ultimately determined that the BAWADI (USA) was passed fit to start, and the horse took its place in the field.”

The Trakus data, available HERE on the Dubai Racing Club website, was a major help in identifying Bawadi as a contender in this race.  We revised our analysis when he drew in off the reserves list, and proved his mettle based off the helpful data.  Bawadi traveled 23 metres more than winner Radegund Abbey in his last race, losing by only 2.75 lengths.  23 meters translated to almost nine lengths of extra ground.  While Bawadi hadn’t won since 2009 at Kempton, the last race performance showed he was coming around and with a better trip, was a massive chance.  He was dismissed at 30-1 on the international tote, and 16-1 on the UK markets.  Bawadi’s last race was the same as Street Act, who rebounded to win after having recorded 29 metres of extra ground compared to Radegund Abbey.  This data is POWERFUL, and the on-course tipping competition player, or international punter, should be advised.

The revelation of the weekend was Prince Bishop (below), who aired over 2,000 metres without ever being extended by Frankie Dettori, and emerged as a significant Dubai World Cup candidate.  Trainer Saeed bin Suroor identified that he is likely for one of the remaining editions of the Maktoum Challenge, and could improve from there.  He is now unbeaten two-from two since being gelded.

First City was declared by Mike deKock as the top threat to Mahbooba in the Cape Verdi (G2), and that position was fully confirmed in the final strides when Royston Ffrench drove her to nip Christophe Soumillon’s mount.  As soon as Mahbooba was positioned in front, one could immediately get a sense that this was not her ideal position.  Trained by Ali Al Raihe, First City rallied home on the outside and should be positioned to move forward with quality in the Balanchine.

Racing resumes on Thursday with six races scheduled at Meydan, and seven races at Jebel Ali on Friday.