Dubai: With The Moonlight should rule over Balanchine field
With The Moonlight probably has no real rival Friday at Meydan Racecourse in the featured Group 2, $180,000 Balanchine Stakes. And if she does, that horse, Tranquil Lady, comes from the same training yard.
Charlie Appleby trains both fillies for Godolphin, which bred With The Moonlight and bought Tranquil Lady. With The Moonlight, second in the Belmont Oaks and Lake Placid and winner of the Saratoga Invitational Oaks last summer, has a somewhat stronger resume, a win at the ongoing Dubai World Cup Carnival, and Appleby’s top rider, William Buick. But several times this winter, supposedly lesser horses ridden by James Doyle for Appleby have stepped up to beat their better-fancied stablemate.
Both fillies are 4-year-olds. With The Moonlight, racing for the first time since the Lake Placid at Saratoga, finished well from mid-pack to capture the Cape Verdi over about 1,600 meters on Feb. 3. The 1,800 meters of the Balanchine probably suits her better and with significant improvement, she’s a very likely winner at a short price.
Tranquil Lady is a two-time Group 3 winner who might need 2,000 meters for her best run, but it’s worth noting one of her group wins came in her most recent start, Oct. 22 in France. The filly was improving at the end of the European season and, out of the public eye, might’ve continued that trajectory over the winter in Dubai.
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