Drafted by a neck in Mahab al Shimaal; Muntazah impresses in Burj Nahaar

American expatriate trainer Doug Watson always has a strong dirt division for the Dubai World Cup Carnival, and Watson showed it in landing two dirt stakes early on the Super Saturday card at Meydan.

Drafted overcame an outside trip to capture the Group 3, $300,000 Mahab al Shimaal over 1,200 meters (about six furlongs), but while he might prove no match for the leading American sprinters March 30 in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen, who will be a match for Muntazah in the Godolphin Mile on the World Cup card if he runs back to the form he showed Saturday in the Group 3, $350,000 Burj Nahaar?

Muntazah broke from the rail in the 1,600-meter Burj Nahaar, and with potential pace rival Heavy Metal off slowly, jockey Jim Crowley let Muntazah run to the lead. Setting a steady pace, Muntazah began widening in upper stretch, and by the finish, without coming under heavy pressure, he was 10 lengths in front.

Muntazah stopped the timer in 1:34.99, the fastest 1,600-meter dirt time ever clocked at Meydan. A 6-year-old gelding by Dubawi and out of Rumoush, by Rahy, Muntazah is campaigned by Hamdan al Maktoum. Second to Heavy Metal in the 2018 Godolphin Mile, he comes into this year’s edition on a two-race win streak and as the likely favorite.

Drafted certainly won’t be anything close to favored over the likes of Roy H in the Golden Shaheen, but he was a neck best Saturday in a blanket finish with Nine Below Zero and Tato Key. Racing wide under Pat Dobbs, Drafted made a determined run through the long Meydan homestretch for his second straight group-level stakes win in the dirt-sprint division of the World Cup Carnival.

Drafted, a 5-year-old gelding who began his career in America, is by Field Commission and out of the Darn That Alarm mare Keep the Profit.