Thursday’s Track Notes March 24, 2022

$12 million Group 1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored By Emirates Airline 

Trainer Saeed Bin Suroor has won the Dubai World Cup a record nine times and runs five-year-old Real World in the $12 million showpiece at Meydan on Saturday evening.

“He has won on three different racetracks in England, and he’s won in France and a Group 2 in Dubai,” said the Godolphin handler. 

“He worked well last time and Christophe Soumillon is on board; he won the World Cup twice for us with Thunder Snow. Real World has won over a mile and a quarter so he will stay the trip, and if he sits handy we are looking to see this horse run a big race.”

He added of his eight runners for the Dubai World Cup card: “They have all done their last piece of fast work on Saturday and now they are just doing routine daily canters in the days leading up to the races. 

“It’s great to see the life back in Dubai after two years and it will be great to see all the people back and happy at Meydan for these important races.”

$6 million Group 1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic

The focus in the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic may centre on some of the top Japanese chances or Yibir, Godolphin’s Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, but it might be unwise to discount the prospects of Hukum, according to Shadwell Stable’s racing manager Angus Gold. 

“I don’t want to jeopardise anything but I think he’s doing as well as we could want him to be at the moment. I saw him have an exercise on the training track this morning and he looks very bright and well and happy in himself. He moved very well and his jockey Jim Crowley was very happy with him, so it’s so far so good,” Gold observed on Thursday morning. 

“It’s a hell of a race on Saturday and it’s obviously very much his stiffest test yet. He’s done nothing wrong for us though and deserves to have a crack at it. He’s been very consistent at a lesser level than this and now he’s got to step up a level and take on the big boys. 

“Through no fault of his own we’ve kept Hukum at a slightly lower grade in Europe, but he’s more mature now and he deserves his chance.”

$5 million Group 1 Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World

Japanese challenger Schnell Meister boasts one of the best formlines in this race, having finished second to the recently retired champion mare Gran Alegria in the Group 1 Mile Championship (1600m) at Hanshin in November. 

Jockey Christophe Lemaire, who rode the four-year-old to victory in the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup (1600m) and the Group 2 Mainichi Okan (1800m), was reunited with the colt in a gallop on the Meydan turf.

“I think he will be very well suited, he’s a very good finisher, he’s got a good kick and he’s very tough. The extra 200 metres will be an advantage too, he sometimes gets a little bit tapped for toe over a mile. At that trip, he either wins by a nose or loses by a nose, you have to time it just right. 

“His perfect trip is the 1800 metres. He’s not always the best out of the stalls, but because it looks like a race with a lot of pace in it from horses like Panthalassa, that should help him finish off well. Gate four looks ideal for him.” 

Another key raider from Japan, the Nakayama Kinen winner Panthalassa, appears the likely leader from barrier 12 with trainer Yoshito Yahagi confirming those tactics. 

“He is a very strong runner, I think he will be suited by Meydan and there will be no problems leading,” he said. “It’s a one-turn 1800m and a long distance to the first corner so he will come across. Panthalassa is following the Just A Way route going the Nakayama Kinen to the Dubai Turf and we saw what he did in this race [wide-margin winner in 2014]. Last year, Panthalassa liked heavy ground more but the Nakayama Kinen was fast ground so I decided to give him his chance here.

“This year, it appears very tough. I have four good horses across the night with Stay Foolish, Entscheiden, Bathrat Leon and Panthalassa but I believe that Panthalassa is the best chance for me.”

Racing manager Jacob West and owner Robert Low have been out and about all week watching their five-year-old entire Colonel Liam do his thing and have really been impressed with what they’ve seen. 

“Liam always does everything well and really looks great out there. It is a very, very competitive race and we have an outside draw of 13 but we think he definitely fits and deserves a chance,” West said. 

“We know no American horse has ever won the Dubai Turf before but we’d love if trainer Todd Pletcher became the first to do it. We thought his win in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes was just what he needed and he should come on from that run.” 

$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Atlantis Dubai 

Californian trainer Mark Glatt was on hand to watch his Group 1 winning sprinter Dr Schivel hit the main track at Meydan early on Thursday. 

“He’s a real laidback horse, he takes everything in his stride,” Glatt said. “He’s all class. You never know how a horse might ship, especially this far. He seems to have made it very well. He bounced right over the track in his gallop this morning, he had a really nice workout. 

Commenting on how the race might unfold for Dr Schivel, drawn in gate nine, Glatt continued: “Depending upon what they are doing on the front end, our rider Flavien Prat will be able to choose what he wants to do. He will be able to see the majority of the field in the early stages. Our horse has gone wire-to-wire in the past and also come from four or five lengths out of it. We trust Flavien. He’s ridden the horse magnificently every time and we expect he will make the right decisions.”

$1.5 million Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments

Just two days after a hard-charging neck defeat in the Group 3 1351 Turf Sprint Cup in Saudi Arabia, American runner Casa Creed headed to Dubai to prepare for the $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments. 

Neil Poznansky, assistant trainer to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, has been with Casa Creed

throughout his Middle East adventures and has ridden him out every morning. 

“He has handled everything well. He likes it out here, and takes everything in stride,”

Ponzansky said. 

British trainer Richard Hannon has reported Happy Romance to be in fine form since touching down in Dubai, though he is under no illusions that she will need a career best performance if she is to take the Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments on Saturday. 

The four-year-old filly has some smart form to her name, winning a Group 3 and finishing just a length behind Emaraaty Ana when fourth in the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup in September. She ran a close third in the 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh a month ago – a neck behind Casa Creed – most recently.  

“Happy Romance arrived safe and sound with no problems. She will do very little while she’s there, she doesn’t need to do anything. She probably did her best-ever piece of work last week,” Hannon enthused.  

“She’s super but it’s a very strong race and it will take an extremely good horse to win it. We’re very hopeful but she will need to step it up – though she’s in great form and we’re very pleased with her.”

American contender Get Smokin was purchased privately late last year by a four-part ownership group led by Ironhorse Racing Stable LLC managing partner Harlan Malter and in just a few months the group has found themselves halfway around the world competing at the very highest level. 

“We are excited about the cut back in distance from a mile. We saw the success Long On Value had here a few years back [second by a nose in 2017] and hope Get Smokin can be met with similar results.” Malter said. 

“We are very happy with draw 10 as we have been told that has been a good spot to be in on the stand side this year.” 

$1 million Group 2 UAE Derby Sponsored By Mubadala

One of the most impressive looking horses to visit Meydan all week has been trainer Bill Mott’s Gilded Age. The three-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro cost $600,000 as a yearling at Keeneland and “certainly looks the part,” assistant trainer Neil Poznansky said.  

“He has shipped over well and feels good going over this track.” 

Jumeirah Derby Trial winner Island Falcon is another Derby runner for Saeed Bin Suroor who commented: “In his last piece of work he worked well – he usually doesn’t show a lot in the morning. The trip will suit him but it’s a tough race. He’s improving, though, and he tries his best all the time.”

$1 million Dubai Gold Cup Sponsored By Al Tayer Motors

Lucrative overseas targets await Stay Foolish should he once again show his dazzling staying potential in the longest of the races at the Dubai World Cup meeting, but his destination remains up in the air.

Trainer Yoshito Yahagi identified November’s Melbourne Cup at the same trip as the Dubai Gold Cup as the ideal end of year target for his seven-year-old but managing owner Teruya Yoshida believes Stay Foolish may be good enough to give Japan their first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“I really want to win the Melbourne Cup, it is probably the race that I want to win above all others,” said Yahagi. “But the owner thinks that he might be the right horse to take to the Arc. We will decide after Dubai – he would have to be very impressive on Saturday to go to the Arc.” 

$1 Million Group 2 Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Nakheel

Owner Jeff Bloom arrived earlier in the week from the United States to watch his Snapper Sinclair return for the $1 million Group 2 Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Nakheel and is excited at the prospect of what awaits.  

The seven-year-old entire Snapper Sinclair has seven wins, more than $1.8 million in career earnings and ran a credible fourth in this race last year. “He is my favourite horse, I mean how many horses can run and compete at the different distances and different surfaces that he has?” Bloom asked.  

“Steve Asmussen told me he was training unbelievably well so when the invitation came, we felt we had to come here and hopefully he can work out a good trip.”

The Godolphin Mile is another race in which trainer Saeed Bin Suroor is double-handed. 

He said of his two runners: “Storm Damage has done well this year, as he won his last two races in Meydan. He’s won over seven furlongs but this time we are giving him a chance over a mile. His last piece of work was good and he’s ready to go. It’s great to have Christophe Soumillon riding.

“Dubai Icon won a race back in January but I was disappointed with him last time though he has come back from the race well.”