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| Rowan Anderson |
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Gates will fly and hoofs will take back off at Sharjah with a special mid-week meeting tomorrow.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain forced the meeting on the weekend to be abandoned after race one but proceedings will pick back up starting at 3PM Wednesday.
With a six-race card set highlighted by the Sheikh bin Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup the fields are set to be high quality.
Sharjah’s Saturday meeting, due to be a quality one, was postponed until Wednesday after the opening race with thunderstorms and heavy rain making conditions unfeasible
In the opening race that was seen out on Saturday Richard Mullen kept his mount JAP al Afreet on pace fighting off stablemate JAP Mabroka to supply Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum and trainer Irfan Ellahi a 1-2.
The Cup is the only race on the card set for thoroughbreds and will close out the meeting at Sharjah.
Run over 1200m and worth AED 200,000 in prize money it has attracted a field of 16.
The top-rated hope is Never Just A Dream (104), with the colt prepared by Ismail Mohammed with Fernando Jara on board.
The No Nay Never x Poetic Imagination 3YO is returning from an 84 day spell following a win at Newcastle in October last year. He had a 2022 that saw him record three wins from six starts and should be fresh and ready for this one.
The most raced horse is Heraldic, a 10YO prepared by Qaiss Aboud with the trainer yet to record a win this season after 75 starts. The gelded son of Discreet Cat raced nine days ago under former Australian hoop Jean Van Overmeire coming away with a third ten lengths off the winning Chosen Mark at Jebel Ali.
He last tasted victory in January 2019 after breaking his maiden in 2015 and will be an interesting watch in his 59th start for the Al Bait Mutawhed Team ownership.
The least tried is Road Bloc who will see his fourth career start here for trainer Osama Refai and owners Sayed Hashish and Mrs Hana Refai.
A 5YO gelded son of Street Sense he has not raced for 46 days but finished on that occasion third, but a handy third under jockey Pat Cosgrove. He won his maiden three weeks prior to that at Meydan beating Colour Up home by 1.5 lengths.
With this field the 8YO On the Warpath will be highly desirable given his form and stats. Trained by Mussabbeh Al Mheiri, the gelded son of Declaration of War has seen the track 22 times for five wins and a further ten placings, impressive form however you look at it.
Carrying a rating of 103 his last two starts have been close thirds under retained jockey Antoniou Fresu. He has not won in more than two years but has definitely shown signs of rediscovered form and will be ready for this trip.