Dubai World Cup Preview card goes without U.S. stars
Hot Rod Charlie, Country Grammer, and Midnight Bourbon, Grade 1-class American dirt horses, all are currently stabled in Dubai, but none of them are running Saturday in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3.
The Group 1, $450,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 is the featured race among nine on so-called Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse. Prep races for the Dubai World Cup card on March 26 fill a program that starts at 6 a.m. Eastern with an Arabian race.
The Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, contested around two turns at 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles), goes as race 6 and like all the Super Saturday contests drew a huge field. Fifteen were entered and the group looks extremely competitive.
Hot Rod Charlie has been in Dubai for about six weeks now and won the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 on Feb. 4. Trainer Doug O’Neill planned all along to train Hot Rod Charlie into the $12 million Dubai World Cup off that trial run, but did enter two horses, Go On and Appreciated, in the Saturday feature.
Country Grammer and Midnight Bourbon, respectively second and third in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 26, arrived earlier this week in Dubai to prepare for the World Cup.
Go On finished a tepid sixth, beaten more than 15 lengths by Hot Rod Charlie, in Round 2, but does have stronger American form than that performance and could improve. Appreciated, a 6-year-old, won the listed Curlin Stakes on Feb. 11 but beat a suspect group in a slow time and has run in several California claiming races during his career.
If speed is holding Saturday, Hypothetical should have a great chance to lead all the way in Round 2. He finished second in the race’s 2021 renewal, beaten by Salute the Soldier, who also starts Saturday. But while Salute the Soldier appears this winter to have lost a step or two, Hypothetical was a sharp front-end winner Feb. 4 of the Firebreak Stakes. That race, as with most of Hypothetical’s top performances, came over 1,600 meters, but he was fourth in Mystic Guide’s 2021 World Cup and will have a decent chance to see out this 2,000-meter trip.
The incredible Lord Glitters tops the card’s other Group 1, the $350,000 Jebel Hatta over 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) on turf. Nine-year-old Lord Glitters began his racing career six springs ago in France and somehow still holds high-level form. Late last year he won a Group 3 in Turkey, and Feb. 11 at Meydan his sustained rally carried him to a one-length victory in the Group 2, $180,000 Singspiel Stakes. Trained by England-based David O’Meara, Lord Glitters will have longtime pilot Danny Tudhope in the irons Saturday as he tries to win the Jebel Hatta for the second year in a row.
Godolphin’s Barney Roy, beaten a half-length by Lord Glitters in Turkey, should provide stiff opposition. Barney Roy was retired to stud following his 2017 season but proved infertile and resumed his racing career in 2019. He won both his Meydan turf starts, including the Jebel Hatta, during the 2020 World Cup Carnival.
Six horses that raced in the Al Shindagha Sprint on Feb. 11 return for the Group 3, $250,000 Mahab al Shimaal, a 1,200-meter dirt sprint that’s a prep for the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen. The Al Shindagha winner, Meraas, isn’t running back Saturday but second-place Canvassed is. Canvassed, a 7-year-old trained by Doug Watson, won this race in 2021 and stands a strong chance of repeating. O’Neill sends out Positivity, who already has raced twice since shipping to Dubai.
A full field of 16 plus four also-eligibles went into the Group 3, $250,000 Nad al Sheba Sprint, a straight-course 1,200-meter grass race that leads to the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint on March 26. The newcomer of note is A Case of You, a 4-year-old Ireland-based Group 1-winner who finished fifth in Golden Pal’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this past November. A Case of You’s biggest win came over five furlongs but he is proven at six and even while prepping for the Al Quoz should race very competitively. His draw in post 12 is fine, as runs nearer the outside rail than the inside are preferable going a straight six furlongs at Meydan. Acklam Express, trained by England-based Nigel Tinkler, also rates a legitimate win chance.
At 1,400 meters, about seven furlongs, on turf, the $300,000 Ras al Khor has no related race on the World Cup card, but it will have Godolphin’s Al Suhail as a formidable favorite. The $170,000 Al Bastakiya, a two-turn dirt race for 3-year-olds over 1,900 meters, includes the O’Neill-trained Get Back Goldie, who won a lower-level conditions race over 1,200 meters making his Dubai debut Feb. 4. Get Back Goldie won a Santa Anita turf maiden race over one mile but is no sure thing to see out this trip. Neither is Quality Boone, who was third last month in the UAE 2000 Guineas, won by the talented Azure Coast.
Watson appears to have been saving Golden Goal for the Group 3, $250,000 Burj Nahaar, a one-turn 1,600-meter dirt race that’s a prep for the Godolphin Mile. Golden Goal got good at the end of the 2021 World Cup Carnival, finishing second in the Godolphin Mile, and last saw racing action winning the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 over this distance on Jan. 14. O’Neill starts Strongconstitution, who finished second behind Hypothetical last month in the Firebreak Stakes. The one-mile trip could be slightly too far for Strongconstitution.
Hukum, a solid Group 3-class 1 1/2-mile horse in England, makes his Dubai debut in the Group 2, $250,000 Dubai City of Gold, a prep for the Group 1 Sheema Classic. Without a Fight, a listed stakes-winner over 1 1/2 miles in England, also races in Dubai for the first time, while the Charlie Appleby-trained Global Storm could be the leading Godolphin hope here.