Dubai: At first glance the Group 2 $1m Dubai Gold Cup, the longest race on the card at 3,200 metres, appears to at the mercy of the mighty French stayer, Vazirabad.
But on closer examination, you will find that several runners, including Goodwood Cup winner and Melbourne Cup fifth Big Orange and the locally trained Meadow Creek, may have equally strong claims.
No doubt, Vazirabad, who is trained by the legendary Alain de Royer-Dupre, has impeccable credentials as a stayer having matured into one of France’s leading long distance horses as evidenced by his performance when winning the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak on soft ground at Saint-Cloud last October.
He is a deserving favourite to win this energy-sapping contest which was first run in 2009 and give France a share of the riches.
Godolphin’s Saeed Bin Surour won the first four runnings of the race and French legend Andre Fabre bids to continue that dominance with Manatee, who warmed up for Saturday’s race with an impressive performance over an extended 1800 metres at Chantilly.
Goodwood Cup winner and Melbourne Cup fifth Big Orange is a big player and his British handler Michael Bell has been impressed with his performance on the main training track at Meydan with jockey Jamie Spencer aboard.
This will be the first start for the pair since their fifth-place finish at Melbourne’s great race and Bell said: “He knows the horse really well. Once in a while a goose turns into a swan,”
The Gold Cup is a particular favourite of Bin Surour and he returns hoping for a fifth success with the consistent Haafaguinea.
“The Dubai Gold Cup is a very tactical race and it takes a special stayer to be effective over the trip,” said the Emirati. “Haafaguinea is a solid long-distance horse who has been very consistent at Meydan where he has posted three wins.
“He may have been caught out on class when he ran in the Dubai City of Gold on Super Saturday, but he was far from overwhelmed. Mind you the horse that won [Postponed] is a Group 1 winner in the UK and one of the best stayers in Europe and the second horse [Dariyan] is also a proven stayer in France.
“Haafaguinea ran his best race and with the two the finished in front of him in the City of Gold not in the line-up on Saturday, I would have to say that he has a decent chance, although there are top runners like Vazirabad, Big Orange and Manatee to cope with.
“He is one hundred per cent fit and has been training very well. We couldn’t be happier heading into another Dubai World Cup meeting.”
Big-race jockey Ryan Moore rides Tellina for Mike de Kock and the jockey believes he could be ‘could be competitive if lasting home over this extra two furlongs
“I held him up last time and they went slow up front, so he wasn’t in the right place throughout, and was probably a little unlucky,” Moore wrote in his blog for a racing website. “That said, he has to improve a good deal for the step up to 2m, so I think that he has an outside chance at best.”
Oman bid for a much-coveted first Dubai World Cup night success with Meadow Creek who is trained by Doug Watson in Dubai,
“He came to us fairly late last year. He was in fantastic shape but it has been a rush to get him qualified for the Dubai Gold Cup,” said Watson.
“He flew home when he was fifth on his first race for us, then ran a very good third to Tryster, which I thought would be good enough to get him into the race, but he didn’t move up the ratings, so he ran again two weeks later and was a good fourth to Sheikhzayedroad.
“We’re learning more about him and Pat Dobbs will probably ride him to come later than before. He worked fantastically on the main track on Monday and I think he will stay the 3200m, but it still has to be a question mark.”
