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| Sumita Pawar |
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Dubai's marquee racing venue, Meydan Racecourse, will host the Listed Dubai Creek Mile as the first of its big races on Friday. Trainer Bhupat Seemar, the 2021-22 champion, is excited about fielding Al Nefud, his two-time course and distance winner who has dominated the mile division on this surface. The Dubawi gelding marked his UAE debut during the current campaign with a six-and-a-quarter length victory, followed by a two-and-a-quarter length success in a subsequent course and distance run, before finishing runner-up behind American hotshot Hot Rod Charlie in the Gr.2 Al Maktoum Challenge R2 over a 1900m strip.
Regular partner Tadhg O’Shea will ride Al Nefud for the first time in the colours of his new owner, Michael Hilary Burke and Negar Burke. Meanwhile, Seemar's Secret Ambition, a seven-time Meydan winner, will be ridden by Bernardo Pinheiro in the same race. The 10YO Exceed And Excel gelding has shown no signs of stopping and was last seen winning the Jebel Ali Classic in March.
Desert Wisdom, trained by Charlie Appleby, won the Gr.3 Burj Nahaar for Ahmed Al Shemaili and came close to staging a massive upset as a rank outsider in the Godolphin Mile that year when gamely chasing home Bathrat Leon. His Emirati conditioner will be hoping he has relegated memories of his poor 2022-23 campaign to the past.
Michael Costa's Home Brew has to be taken seriously, given that the redirection of stablemate Alhzeem to the Thunder Snow Handicap (race 7) looks like a statement of intent for Home Brew fans. Costa has put all his eggs in the basket of the 4YO Street Sense colt, who was last seen winning on the dirt at Churchill Downs. The 4YO won five of his eight career starts Stateside for former trainer Brad Cox, including a Listed event (Pegasus Stakes) by a six-and-a-quarter length margin, but has been out of action since September 2022.
Julio Olascoaga has booked James Doyle to ride Es- Unico, one of two saddled by the Uruguayan. Champion trainer Doug Watson is represented by Golden Goal, who won the 2022 Gr.2 Al Maktoum Challenge R1 and was second in 2022 Godolphin Mile behind Secret Ambition. Watson is also represented by Everfast, who was placed in four other Meydan starts, including a close second behind stablemate Prince Eiji in Gr.3 Firebreak Stakes.
Seemar's Mendelssohn Bay looked good trialling on the surface in October and might be the pick for the 2YO maiden over 1400m. The 1600m Conditions event seems an action-packed affair with the Costa-trained Seyouff looking to improve on his fine second to Western Symphony here over 1600m at the first meeting.
Half an hour before, Alhzeem, trained by Seemar, will mark his seasonal debut after running well at Meydan last year. The form of his reappearance run was boosted when Delorian, beaten by an easy four-and-a-half lengths, won on Saturday. Alhzeem looks like one of the stronger picks on the card.
The only Purebred Arabian event on the card is the Gr.2 Bani Yas, which could go the way of Najm Al Wathba, wire-to-wire winner of a 1200m Conditions event here, with the main threat coming from Ernst Oertel-trained 2022 champion AF Alajaj and Hamad Al Marar’s US import RB Money Maker.