Dream Castle leads top-five sweep by Godolphin in Singspiel

Dream Castle led a Godolphin sweep of the top five placings in the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes, while Raven's Corner held off favored Drafted in the Grade 3 Dubawi Stakes on Thursday, opening night of the Dubai World Cup Carnival.

Dream Castle, starting Thursday for the first time since being gelded, swooped down the outside under Christophe Soumillon to capture the $200,000 Singspiel in his first race since March. Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Dream Castle, a 5-year-old by Frankel, relaxed nicely before and during the race, according to his jockey, and powered home 1 ½ lengths clear of runner-up Racing History in this 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8-mile) turf race.

The victory was a tiny first step toward the $6 million Dubai Turf on March 30. Whether Dream Castle is Group 1 material remains to be seen, but in England, Dream Castle was highly regarded as an early-season 3-year-old of 2017 and he started his 5-year-old campaign doing something he was unable to accomplish last winter in Dubai - win a race.

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Behind Racing History came Salsabeel, Team Talk, and Bay of Poets, all of whom are trained either by bin Suroor or Charlie Appleby and campaign for Godolphin.

One race earlier, Raven’s Corner got an outside pace-pressing trip and got the jump on late-running Drafted in the $200,000 Dubawi Stakes, winning the 1,200-meter dirt fixture by 1 ¾ lengths. It was the first win at the group level for Raven’s Corner, a 6-year-old gelded son of Raven’s Pass trained by Satish Seemar. He was timed in a snappy 1:11.68 over a fast track and could start next in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint.

In other Thursday night action from Meydan, 3-year-old filly Al Hayette braved the main-track kickback and won the listed UAE 1000 Guineas Trial by two lengths, her second straight dirt win in Dubai this winter. Al Hayette, an American-bred by Union Rags out of Water of Life, by Hennessy, was stuck near the rail in behind horses for about half the 1,400-meter race, pushing through the heavy kickback to get to the outside under Fabrice Veron and launch a sustained rally that propelled her to a two-length win. Al Hayette, cutting back from a 1,600-meter win, clearly was the best of this bunch but clocked a slow 1:27.22.

In the 1,000-meter straight-course Longines Ladies Record Collection Handicap, Faatinah scored a smart 2 1/2-length win over favored Hit the Bid. Faatinah finished eighth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint when last seen in Dubai about nine months ago, but perhaps he is an improved model at age 6.