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| Staff Writer |
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Meydan Racecourse hosted a competitive card featuring the Gr.3 Dubawi Stakes and the Gr.2 Zabeel Mile as the main events, last Friday. The races provided a unique insight into the achievements of the competitors. The five turf races produced fast final quarter miles, while the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial on the dirt was notable for being a strongly run, attritional affair with a slow finish. Below are the highlights from the card:
Local Dynasty dominated this race, winning in a very fast overall time of 2m.00.70s. The winner attended an even gallop before quickening sharply, producing a visually taking turn of foot. The data shows that he completed the final two furlongs in 22.24s. The drop back in trip from 2400m suited him, as he has plenty of speed. The winner produced a finishing speed percentage (FSP) of 108.54%, indicating that his final 400m were 8.54% quicker than the previous 1600m. He had a positional advantage but has a fine turn of foot and is way ahead of his official rating of 100.
Legend of Time put up a career-best performance, winning from a wide gate (stall 14). This race was quite steadily run with the tempo slightly quicker than in the Zabeel Turf. The winner produced an FSP of 107.49%, telling us how strongly he finished the race off. He showed impressive finishing speed, completing the race with a split of 22.10s, the fastest on the card. He is a horse of abundant speed, even though his pedigree suggests that he will stay further. He would not be out of place in a 2000 Guineas trial in the UK.
Tuz won this sprint with a decisive and impressive eight-and-a-half-length success achieved from a poor draw in stall 13. This horse is at his best when here from stall one last season. He repeated the trick under a well-judged ride from Tadhg O’Shea. This was not a case of him going off as fast as he could and burning the opposition off, it was much more about an even gallop for a dirt race. An FSP of 101.05% reveals just how well this horse was rated on the lead while also suggesting it was disappointing none of his rivals could go with him. Such was the even gallop here that Tuz was able to conserve energy for a relatively fast finish for a dirt sprint. He came home in 23.23s, the fastest finishing split on the dirt at the meeting. An impressive win, but Tuz will have tougher assignments where a solo out in front might not be possible.
San Donato won cosily under a cool ride from Pat Dobbs, overcoming traffic problems to do so. The race was evenly run, with the winner recording an FSP of 102.45%. Given the average gallop, San Donato did well to win, having been dropped out, with the second and third both enjoying positional advantages with the way the race was run. He finished the race in 23.05s, a slower finishing kick than Local Dynasty and Legend Of Time in their respective races, albeit their races were run at a steadier gallop. San Donato remains with potential, having previously failed to fire in his UAE career so far.
This was a very strongly run dirt contest, and the winner, Ma Yetal, kept going better while getting very tired. The deep closer, Quartier, finished within three-quarters of a length of the winner, backing up the notion that the pace collapsed. An FSP of 85.01% tells us just how slowly the winner completed the race compared to the previous 1000m. He ran the final 400m in 25.02s, doing well to overcome trouble in running.