The racing at Meydan has been a welcome ray of sunshine amongst the gloom and doom of the British winter. With the news relaying stories of the Thames floods and hurricane force winds, it is easy to see why Dubai makes plenty of appeal! The results have also been kind to this column with three wins out of four including Ihtimal’s scintillating display last week.
The colts go on show tomorrow for the UAE 2000 Guineas. On the face of it, this will have little or no bearing on the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket but there is an interesting mix of international performers taking part. Saeed bin Suroor has won this race four times already and is represented by Emirates Flyer and Paximadia.
Emirates Flyer was a winning tip for us last time out, holding off the late run of Safety Check. Five previous trial winners have gone on to win the race proper so it would hardly be a surprise to see Emirates Flyer run well. I liked his game effort in the Redcar Two-year-old Trophy last season and he’s sure to keep plugging away.
Paximadia is a Group Two winner in Australia and has reportedly been pleasing connections but it is Charlie Appleby’s Safety Check that I like for tomorrow’s race. He was a big strong two-year-old and has obviously trained on judged by his run in the trial. He was spotted going easily two furlongs out on the inside but couldn’t quite get to the winner. He’s got a good draw on the inside and is expected to appreciate the step up in distance.
His stable companion Long John could be the main threat. Appleby says that the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas winner shows nothing at home so they are really in the dark going into the race. Apparently he was the same in Australia but still produced the goods on race day.
If untangling the Godolphin runners is tough, then working through the Mike De Kock team is impossible! He has won this five times and has four runners tomorrow. Christophe Soumillon presumably had the pick and has chosen Warwick winner Wednaan. The concern about him is that he was sick when arriving over in Dubai so missed the trial. He could be one to watch for another day.
Nezar and Jallota are more familiar names that help to remind us of warmer days! Nezar was a promising youngster and landed some confident bets at Chester in a nursery before struggling in a higher grade. Jallota competed in a stack of top two-year-old races for Mick Channon last year and is a quality colt. I’m just hopeful that Safety Check can confirm the promise of that trial run.
Safety Check at 12-1 Bet365
