Aspectoflove prevails in three-horse photo in Cape Verde

Aspectoflove outdueled longshot Thai Haku in the $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes at Meydan on Thursday night as the luckless favorite River Jetez closed with a rush for third in the one-mile Group 2 race for fillies and mares.

A neck separated Aspectoflove and Thai Haku at the line as the winner covered the mile in 136.52 on good ground. River Jetez, a Group 1 winner in South Africa, tried to come up the rail in midstretch but found no room behind the dueling leaders. Angled out by Christophe Soumillon, River Jetez finished best of all to be third, just a nose behind the runner-up.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori for the Saeed bin Suroor branch of Godolphin, Aspectoflove had won a pair of listed races going a mile at Lingfield and Ascot last fall. Making his first start since Oct. 28, the 5-year-old Aspectoflove had Deem, the mare who had beaten her into second in the Group 2 Balanchine Stakes here last winter, back in seventh place, beaten 6 1/4 lengths in all.

Thai Haku, second against males in the Group 3 Prix Andre Baboin at Bordeaux last time on Oct. 14, gave it her all under Christophe Lemaire but wasn’t quite good enough. The first three could meet again on Feb. 18 in the 1 1/8-mile Balanchine, the female prep for the Dubai Duty Free.

Zanzamar scored a professional victory for de Kock in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial as the Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old came from off the pace to defeat Kempton maiden winner Splash Point by a length with Godolphin stablemates Bridgefield and Janood third and fourth. Ridden by Richard Hills for owner Hamdan Al Maktoum, Zanzamar, Group 1-placed in his native South Africa, covered the seven furlongs in 1:25.18. He will run next in the one-mile UAE 2000 Guineas on Feb. 10.