Dubai: At 9, Lord Glitters looks to carry top form into Grade 2 Singspiel

There’s nothing like Hot Rod Charlie, star of the Feb. 4 Dubai World Cup Carnival card, on the Friday racing program at Meydan in the United Arab Emirates, but the seven-race card, top to bottom, came up strong.

Race 1 is for purebred Arabians and race 2 is a conditions race of no great consequence, but the last five races all merit at least minor attention.

The feature is race 6, the Group 2, $180,000 Singspiel Stakes over 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) on turf, a race that drew a dozen entrants including the first-, second-, and fourth-place finishers – Lord Glitters, Zakouski, and Art Du Val – from the 2021 Singspiel.

Art Du Val finished third and Lord Glitters fourth in the Al Rashidiya Stakes over this same trip on Jan. 21, and Lord Glitters, at least, should improve Friday. Granted, this gelding now is a 9-year-old, and even horses that most defy aging eventually experience form slippage. But Lord Glitters just three months ago won a good race in Bahrain and still appears to have spark. In the Al Rashidiya, he was hard held near the back of an 11-horse field until the final 600 meters, while the eventual winner, Desert Fire, got first run on everyone in route to a decisive score. Lord Glitters unwound his strong closing run much too late to win but finished with as much verve as any of his rivals. Last season he won twice during the World Cup Carnival.

:: Want to start playing with a $510 bankroll and have access to free Formulator? Learn more

Art Du Val is one of five entrants for Godolphin, the best of which likely is 6-year-old Zakouski, who went from his 2021 Singspiel second to win the Al Rashidiya three weeks later (the race order has been switched this year). Zakouski’s only truly subpar race among 10 in his career came in the Bahraini race this past November that Lord Glitters won, and in addition to the two good Meydan turf runs last winter, he won both his starts over the course in 2020.

William Buick, generally the top rider for Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby, has the mount on Zakouski, but don’t sleep on Royal Fleet, another Appleby charge, this one ridden by James Doyle. Four-year-old Royal Fleet never tried stakes competition but won four of five starts in England before finishing second last month in the Al Rashidiya, a race that suggested he can adequately stay 1,800 meters at Meydan, a distance the Dubawi colt hadn’t previously tried.

The card closes with the Group 3, $150,000 Al Shindagha Sprint over 1,200 meters on dirt, a stepping-stone toward the Group 1 Golden Shaheen on the World Cup undercard. There aren’t a lot of high-level dirt sprinters based on the UAE circuit, and maybe the Doug O’Neill-trained Positivity can contend in his Dubai debut.

Four-year-old Positivity, claimed last summer for $50,000, has hit peak form in recent starts and comes off a solid second-place finish to the very fast California-bred sprinter Brickyard Ride. Positivity’s recent string of Beyer Speed Figures – 97, 92, and 96 – ought to make him competitive with the highest-rated horses in the Al Shindagha. Al Tariq, top-rated at 111, was sixth in the 2021 Golden Shaheen and comes off a win in the Group 3 Dubawi on Jan. 21.

O’Neill also has a runner, Get Back Goldie, for the Group 3, $150,000 UAE 2000 Guineas over 1,600 meters on dirt. Get Back Goldie beat lesser foes going 1,200 meters last week at Meydan but did win a maiden turf race in California at a distance close to Friday’s.

The top three finishers from the Guineas Trial are back for this start, though Rawy, who won by two lengths, looks a cut above. Rawy, by Frosted out of Graceful Rage, by Tiznow, had been second at shorter trips his first two starts, and the improvement he showed last time over 1,400 meters should, from all appearances, carry over to this longer trip.

Pavel Vaschenko, who for years trained in America, might have a live Guineas runner, Azure Coast, who won his career debut by five lengths in Moscow, Russia, before getting up by a head in a Dec. 21 conditions race over the Meydan dirt.

Modern News, trained by Appleby, makes his Dubai debut and is one to keep an eye on in race 4, the $100,000 Business Bay Challenge over 1,400 meters on turf. And the Curlin Stakes, contested at the Dubai World Cup trip of 2,000 meters on dirt, brings out Rebel’s Romance, runaway winner of the 2021 UAE Derby. Rebel’s Romance almost has to improve on his first start since the UAE Derby, a similar race on Jan. 21 where he took a 24-length drubbing as the heavy favorite in international betting pools.

First post for the card is 9 a.m. Eastern. You can catch all the action at DRFBets.com.