Singapore.
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.