Meanwhile, Ali Rashid Al Raihe brought home two winners, Glen Nevis (third picture, below) and Mujaazef, giving his barn six winners in the last two days of racing in the UAE.  The win from Glen Nevis in the featured fifth race was his first since a 2009 shocking upset at Nad al Sheba over Aamaaq, sent off at a big price over the dirt track.  He has only  managed two placings in 12 starts since that victory.

Racing resumes Sunday in Abu Dhabi with selections for those races posted soon.  Pictures of the day’s events are courtesy of EERC/Cedric Lane.  To purchase clean prints of these or other pictures in UAE racing, email UAEracingpictures @ gmail.com.

DubaiRaceNight.com will be in Louisville and offer updates all next week.

Photo courtesy: Emirates Racing Association

Watch the Dubai Duty Free below:

2.  Could the Carnival get any better for Doug Watson?  Surely, it could, but Watson has to be immensely pleased with the performance of his barn over these last two nights after scoring back-to-back wins previously with FORCE FREEZE and BARBECUE EDDIE.  Watson landed four winners over the weekend, including both Arabian events with Nirwan on Thursday and Quaolina on Friday.  GREEN COAST, who almost always shows up and runs a great race managed the first thoroughbred event Friday and ROMAN’S RUN pulled an absolute shocker in the finale.  On the international commingled tote, Roman’s Run was an overwhelming 80-1.  After the win, Watson said that Roman’s Run has an awful bleeding habit, but he runs a good one if he keeps in and he sure did in the last of the night.

3.  SKYSURFERS drew into Friday’s brutally difficult sixth race, a basic allowance with a quality field, and drew away in grand style for this once raced son of E Dubai.  With a win over the classy EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Skysurfers is likely to see a massive rise in the ratings and would make sense for a start in the Burj Nahaar (G3) on Super Thursday.  To make this event more impressive, Skysurfers clocked the fastest 1,600 meters of the Carnival, which was even better than CALMING INFLUENCE’s 6.25 length win on Thursday.  In just his second lifetime start, I have to think that Skysurfers stands to improve with time and age, giving Godolphin a massive prospect.

4.  Should this be considered an oddity or a trend?  In the six races at the Carnival over 1,600 meters on Tapeta, five of the six have been won by horses breaking from stalls 11 and wider.  Only AL ARAB, who broke from post two on February 4, survived an inside draw. 

5.  MUSIR ran a grand race winning the UAE 2000 Guineas (G3) over FROZEN POWER and a fast closing DELLA BARBA, who galloped out well past the winner.  Concerns that Musir would not get the 1,900 meters of the UAE Derby (G2) seem forgotten at this point. 

6.  How about Ahmed Ajtebi?  This guy is riding with ice in his veins, and there is no better example than the Maktoum Challenge (G3) win on Thursday aboard ALLYBAR.  While Ajtebi had little success in his six week prep in America this winter, he has shown remarkable patience and acument over the Tapeta.  Allybar, after going relatively close in the trial race when winning over PRESVIS, was shuffled back to last leaving the backstretch on Thursday.  I thought something was amiss or at least that Allybar was tired, but instead, Ajtebi sensed the field was quickening a bit early.  He waited to the perfect moment and then got a better jump on CROWDED HOUSE, briefly boxing the favorite, and had enough to hold off a late charge.  Ajtebi is now tied for second in the jockey standings during the Carnival.

Feel free to add your thoughts and comments below.  Racing continues in Dubai next Thursday with the UAE Oaks, Balanchine, and DRC Gold Cup leading the charge.

1.  Thursday = parade of favorites
Most often, racing in Dubai is not kind to favorites but Thursday witnessed a steady stream of well-backed winners, led my Mike De Kock’s 3-year-old winner, Musir.  Alexandros took the Al Rashidiya with a strong stretch kick in the first race over the turf course, followed by a perfectly timed Frankie Dettori ride on Age of Reason in the 2,800 meters marathon, giving the Italian the first two turf races at Meydan.  King of Rome franked the form of stablemate Lizard’s Desire when winning the Thursday finale.

2.  Friday = longshots!
So Shiny, a 16-1 winner at the 2009 Carnival, was ignored by the international punters and sent off at 30-1 (14-1 in the UK) when defeating the fast-closing Indian performer, Oasis Star, who seems to have a future regardless of the second place finish.  Barbecue Eddie found his form back on the all-weather, where he had success in America two years back, and ran on incredibly well to score a mild upset.  Snaffy loved the drop in class and a return to the grass winning at 16-1 while Kal Barg swept past all with a wide stretch move in the Friday finale at 30-1 in the international pool.

3.  Tapeta remains even
So Shiny and Barbecue Eddie took their sprint wins on Friday from front-running positions and made all.  Anmar and Kal Barg won route races from well back, the latter coming incredibly wide to do it, even wider that Mister Fasliyev who was strung out turning for home.  From Thursday, Mr. Brock was wide throughout and stayed on incredibly well for a handy score while perfect tripped Tartan Gigha didn’t have enough. 

4.  Dettori makes a rare bad choice
Global City, with Ted Durcan up, landed a sprint event on Thursday carrying the primary Godolphin colors while Frankie Dettori watched from fifth as he sided with the mare, Alo Pura.  Rarely have we seen Frankie make the wrong choice, but that was most definitely the case on this occasion.

5.  Late night pace bias unfounded
After the opening night of the 2010 Carnival ended with three consecutive front-runners making near all the running en route to wins.  That trend was totally discounted over the two nights from this week.

6.  Sir Gerry fails to re-up
One of the biggest angles we saw coming into the 2010 Carnival, when reviewing the 2009 Carnival, was the inability of longshot winners to find their form a second time.  All but two big priced winners at the 2009 Carnival managed to do it again (Gladiatorus and Snaffy) and Sir Gerry, at 49-1 internationally, 25-1 in the UK, could only muster fourth on Friday after being backed in at much shorter odds.

7.  DeKock third stringers overbet, underperform
While trainer Mike DeKock has had another strong start to a Carnival, winning five races and earning four other placings, his stable still has some old plodders who are well-backed but simply don’t class up with the rest of the barn.  Friday’s last race saw Art of War and Rocks Off take attention, most of that going to the former, let go as 5-2 co-favorite with Rockette.  Art of War never picked up the running and finished in mid-pack.  Let the reminder stand – when DeKock runs horses that don’t appear to match the usual caliber of the stable, chances are they don’t perform that way either.  Raceplayers must recognize the better crop with a check of the past performance / form guide and recognize they must play the horse, not the trainer.

8.  Horse to watch from this week
Friday’s Cape Verdi (G3) saw Soneva take a nice win over Aspectoflove.  While Mike De Kock’s Zirconeum seems better over longer ground and found her best stride when late, I was impressed with the fifth place finish of Purple Sage, who galloped out well past the winner well.  Also, Joanna Morgan trainee Fourpenny Lane was slammed in a chain reaction once Aspectoflove shifted for more running room, but still stayed on to finish just off the flank of Zirconeum, but seventh.

9.  LISTEN to the great Dubai Racing Channel broadcast
For those with any access to the simulcast feed from Dubai, which is actually the live coverage provided by the Dubai Racing Channel, LISTEN up.  Trainer Doug Watson absolutely glowed about his horse, Barbecue Eddie, after another of his, Force Freeze, had won.  Watson made it back to back wins and the BBQ man himself was 13-1 in the US and 25-1 in the UK pools.  Their fabulous coverage has also integrated the most useful application of the TrakUS system ever.  Brett Williams, Laura King, Jason Ford, and Fanny Salmon have really added so much to the Carnival coverage this year with their insight, interviews, and presence, done all without commercial interruption.  If you haven’t caught any of the coverage…don’t delay!

Next week brings us just one night of racing, Thursday, featuring the UAE 2000 Guineas and the Al Shindagha Sprint (G3).  Good luck!

#14 WEALD offers an interesting proposition as a longshot chance.  While his performances over the turf courses at Nad Al Sheba and Abu Dhabi were poor, he flourished when over the dirt at Jebel Ali, defeating #9 MONTE ALTO by 1.25 lengths in his first start over the surface.  If you can bring yourself to ignore some otherwise horrific performances on local turf and focus on the dirt win, which took place over Friday’s trip of 1,950 meters, Weald could be the play. 

The hot connections of Dhruba Selvaratnam and William Buick, winners of three consecutive races last meeting at Jebel Ali, settle in with #8 MEERISS, who offers a win and a second in two starts this season.  Going third off the layoff, Meeriss could pop a big one over the track he enjoys so much.  Buick was aboard for his early season win and climbs back for Friday’s race, the richest of the season to date. 

Doug Watson’s #2 DYNAMIC SAINT was a winner at the 2009 DIRC when running third off the layoff and he scored at a juicy price that day.  Down to a 100 rating following two even performances, similar to his early 2009 form, Dynamic Saint could show his best effort with a run on Friday. 

Click HERE to access the form guide for Friday’s races.

Steadily improving off a pre-seasonal rating of 91, Otaared ran with a 99 today and is likely to move forward as the Carnival approaches.  Top rated War Monger, making his first start since October 2008, was eased in tenth, beaten almost 25 lengths in his first start away from the grass.  Doug Watson was most likely using this event as a leg stretched for the group placed challenger.  Watson’s Green Coast now has two placings from his two starts this season.

Happy Dubai took the Serve.U Facilities Management Maiden to open the card.  Trained by Ali Rashid Al Raihe, the 3-year-old Irish-bred son of Indian Ridge was finally a winner after several UK placings over turf.  Mubarak bin Shafya’s pair of Marine Spirit and Izaaj were not far behind in second and third, making the opening trifecta a logical result of the only three rated maidens in the race.  Mike De Kock was likely disappointed with his sixth and seventh placings from Boss Professor and Jodi, respectively. 

Racing continues in the Emirates on Saturday with a seven race card at Sharjah and a six-race go at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.