Blue Point gets second shot at Al Quoz Sprint

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Blue Point went down to the 1,200-meter straight-course start of the 2018 Al Quoz Sprint expected to emerge a winner of the Group 1 turf dash. Instead, he never emerged from the starting gate. Blue Point acted up behind the gate, cut himself, and was scratched.

Oh well – there’s still 2019. Blue Point, 5, is a year older, at least as fast, and potentially wiser going into the $2 million Al Quoz on Saturday at Meydan.

Rather than bring him to the Al Quoz off one start more than two months in advance, as he did in 2018, trainer Charlie Appleby has tried to take the edge off by giving him two runs, the most recent an easy win March 9 in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint.

“Within the week of his first start we could see it had taken nothing out of him,” Appleby said. “I felt it was right to give him another run, and I’m glad we did.”

Owned by Godolphin, Blue Point will be among the card’s shortest prices. He and jockey William Buick drew well in post 8, and Blue Point possesses positional pace and the gears to extricate himself from trouble.

Sands of Mali has shipped from England for trainer Richard Fahey, and while his major win of 2018 in the Champions Sprint came on soft going, he turned in a strong run finishing a mildly troubled second over good turf in the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup over a straight course at Royal Ascot.

Three Americans, including 2018 champion turf horse Stormy Liberal, will take their chances in the Al Quoz. Stormy Liberal, a fine second in this race last year, drew poorly in post 1 since most of the live runs at this configuration come toward the outside fence. Stormy Liberal has excuses for two recent losses, while trainer Peter Miller also tries the mare Belvoir Bay, who’s not without hope. Al Quoz entrant Caribou Club defeated Stormy Liberal in California this winter.

Filly favored in UAE Derby

The Group 2, $2.5 million UAE Derby is a 170-point qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby, and last year’s winner, Mendelssohn, got ample ink when he arrived at Churchill Downs for what turned out to be a disastrous Derby start.

This year, the likely UAE Derby favorite isn’t Triple Crown-nominated – and isn’t male. The filly Divine Image easily won the Al Bastakiya Stakes in her prep for this start, and she’s yet another short-priced runner on the night for Godolphin, Appleby, and Buick.

Divine Image is quirky, hasn’t run all that fast, and got an ideal trip in the Al Bastakiya, and she is worth opposing at the price.

The American horse Plus Que Parfait showed enough 2-year-old talent to win this. He ran too bad to be true in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, and before that had trouble when a considerably better fifth there in the Lecomte. Trainer Brendan Walsh adds blinkers and said Plus Que Parfait looks better after shipping to Dubai than he did before.

Two more Americans, Gray Magician and Stubbins, could get caught in a fast pace. Jahbath has excelled on all-weather tracks in England, and can contend if that form transfers to dirt.

◗ Muntazah, for top Dubai dirt trainer Doug Watson, is the leading local hope for the Group 2, $1.5 million Godolphin Mile, but ran so fast winning his prep for Saturday’s race he probably has nowhere to go but down. Coal Front, for trainer Todd Pletcher, probably is the more fancied of two Americans in the race, but the other one, True Timber, is the pick to win. Assistant trainer Neal McLaughlin said True Timber hated the slop finishing seventh in the Pegasus World Cup and will appreciate cutting back to a one-turn mile.