Dubai: Century Dream boasts top rating in Zabeel Mile field
Century Dream, third last out in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot and previously fourth in the Arlington Million, is the top-rated entrant Thursday night at Meydan Racecourse as he makes his Dubai debut in the Group 2, $250,000 Zabeel Mile.
Century Dream, trained by former longtime Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford, is rated 115 in this one-turn turf mile, but top-rated in no way means the same thing as most-likely winner. Five-year-old Century Dream is a Group 3 winner who has held his own in top-level competition between one mile and 1 ¼ miles, but most of his best showings – including the QE II - came over rain-softened turf, and anyone playing the race might consider taking a wait-and-see approach with Century Dream.
Among the other seven entered are the one-two finishers from the 2018 Zabeel Mile, Janoobi and Championship, but those two were 11th and sixth in the Jan. 24 Al Fahidi Fort, the last race in this division, albeit over a furlong shorter than the Zabeel Mile. Janoobi ran back Feb. 14 and improved but has a long way to go to hit the form that won the last Zabeel Mile. Championship makes his second start of the Dubai racing season and can improve, but probably not enough to win.
Janoobi is one of two entered by trainer Mike de Kock, who also tries Marinaresco, a Group 1-winning South African import who was ninth in the Al Fahidi Fort, his first start in Dubai and a race he surely needed to approach full fitness.
Wootton showed early-season 3-year-old zip in France last spring but failed to make significant progress the rest of 2018. He makes his first start in Dubai and is at least entered at the right trip as one of four runners for Godolphin along with Top Score, First Magic, and Mythical Magic, who is the pick to win the Zabeel Mile.
Trained by Charlie Appleby with William Buick to ride, Mythical Magic is just a 4-year-old, and after showing ability at 2, he missed most of his 3-year-old season, getting in a pair of listed-stakes starts last fall. Mythical Magic’s first Dubai start was the Al Fahidi Fort, where he was walled behind horses racing mid-pack much of the trip, came between horses in upper stretch to reach contention, then switched outside eventual winner D’bai for a solid second-place finish. Mythical Magic just was finding his best stride late in that 1,400-meter race and, as he’s set to take a step forward anyway, benefits from the move to 1,600 meters Thursday.
The Zabeel Mile is race 5 on a six-race card, post time set for 11:50 a.m. Eastern, and is immediately preceded by the Group 3, $250,000 UAE Oaks, which figures to have Silva as a solid favorite. Silva, an Irish-bred filly by Kodiac trained by Pia Brandt, won her maiden on the Deauville all-weather track last December, but it was hard to see her performance Jan. 31 in the UAE 1000 Guineas coming. Tracking the pace and taking some dirt while racing along the rail just behind the leader, Silva was switched outside the pacesetter at the 500-meter mark and made short work of her rivals, drawing away to win by 9 ¾ lengths.
That race came around one turn at 1,600 meters and Silva now stretches out to the distance of her French maiden win, 1,900 meters, while racing around two turns. She can probably handle all that, but Divine Image, a distant second in the UAE 1000 Guineas, can at least get closer. Divine Image leapt into the air at the start last time, leaving herself at the back of the field with far too much to do, and she performed encouragingly just to rally for second.
The card’s third stakes race is the Group 3, $200,000 Dubai Millennium over 2000 meters on turf, and what’s immediately clear is that Godolphin, dominant again this winter in Meydan grass races, stands an excellent chance. Why? Because it has six of the race’s eight entrants.
First post for the card is 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Live video and wagering is available at DRF Bets.