Dubai: The popularity of the UAE Derby grows and grows and with a win you’re in berth in the Kentucky Derby, so this continues to attract a strong international field.
There is a full field of 16 this year with some very classy individuals who will look to go on to global classic victories.
If Godolphin have not yet had a winner come the fourth, Thunder Snow looks to have a top chance of starting to spread the blue around Meydan.
The winner of the UAE 2000 Guineas, he looked a class act when demolishing a top field early in February here and he arrives as the top rated in the race and looks the one to beat. There is some top opposition but there was so much to like about the manner of his Guineas win and Christophe Soumillon once again gets the mount on Saeed Bin Surour’s number one hope.
Bin Surour’s second string Top Score should not be discounted having won on his last two outings including the Meydan Classic which is a key trial for this race. Godolphin also have the second in that race with Fly At Dawn running for Charlie Appleby and William Buick takes the ride.
Last year this race was won by the Japanese and they look to have brought a top team again. Epicharis is the talking horse for them having had some impressive victories and arriving here unbeaten in four starts for Kiyoshi Hagawara with Christophe Lemair on top.
He looks to be a big threat. Perhaps Adirato has come closest to Epicharis when they finished less than a length apart in their previous race and with the help of 2016 winning jockey Yutaka Take he is also seen as a player.
Second in the Breeders Cup Juvenile (turf) was the experienced Lancaster Bomber who is having his first start of the season. A run like that would see Aiden O’Brien’s son of War Front be a huge danger in this race and under stable number 1 jockey expect this battle hardened three-year-old to finish in the mix. The Coolmore team also have the slightly less experienced Spirit Of Valor who is not just here for the tan and should be strongly respected.
Amazing record
Mike de Kock has an amazing record on this night and he has only two runners tonight and the first is Fawree running in the familiar Shaikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum colours. Highly-fancied in the Al Bastakiya he lost his jockey at the start and so we were unable to see how good he was. You obviously draw a line through that and he comes here representing a top yard and will be a popular selection.
Cosmo Charlie won the race where Fawree lost his jockey and Doug Watson looks to have another exciting horse on his hands for the powerful Ramzan Kadyrov string. Marco Botti’s Qatar Man was second in the race and both these horses could prove to be in the mix again.
The reintroduction of dirt has once again enticed a strong USA challenge and they also like the lure of the Kentucky Derby spot. When the dream team of John Velazquez and Todd Pletcher team up victory is regularly the result and with the relatively unexposed Master Plan more success could be found. Kenny McPeek has had the Grand Premio Derby Paulista winner Vettori Kin moved to his yard and it will be interesting to see how Brazillian Group 1 form will stack up.
There is a rare Uruguayan runner here when Ricard Colombo returns again for another crack with He Runs Away who will be ridden by Dubai World Cup winning jockey Silvestre de Sousa and the winner of two Grade 1s could be a match for these.
Locally trained Nomorerichblondes, Bee Jersey and Midnight Chica complete this competitive renewal. It looks a fabulous race with form from all over the world clashing at Meydan.
We are hopeful Thunder Snow can hold off the Lancaster Bomber challenge and Master Plan and Epicharis should keep them both up to their work.
The author is a racing journalist, broadcaster and GM of Tregoning Properties.
