Familiar names star in Carnival stakes

Two of the biggest names at the Dubai World Cup Carnival, Benbatl and North America, are expected to see action Thursday night at Meydan Racecourse.

North America is entered in the Group 2, $350,000 Maktoum Challenge Round 1, a 1,600-meter, one-turn dirt race, the first local step toward the Dubai World Cup on March 28.

Benbatl, who had an abbreviated two-start 2019 campaign, is among the entries in the Group 2, $250,000 Singspiel Stakes, a turf race over 1,800 meters, or about 1 1/8 miles, and thus an early local prep for the $6 million Dubai Turf over the same distance on March 28. Benbatl won that race for Godolphin and trainer Saeed bin Suroor in 2018.

Final entries were to be taken and post positions assigned for the seven-race Thursday card on Tuesday. The program consists of six Thoroughbred races, plus the Group 1 Maktoum Challenge Round 1 for purebred Arabians.

North America – trained by Satish Seemar (who was fined last week for an acepromazine positive) for Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the Chechen Republic – finished third in this race two seasons ago and won it impressively last January. Two World Cup Carnivals in a row, North America, an imposing Dubawi gelding who recently turned 8, has looked dominant in races leading up to the World Cup only to wilt in the big race itself. He finished 10th in the 2018 World Cup and faded tamely to seventh this past March even after securing his preferred position on the lead.

North America is top-rated at 118, but the Maktoum Challenge Round 1 is weight-for-age and all combatants carry 57 kilograms. The opposition includes Meydan dirt horses as familiar to Dubai racing followers as North America himself – Muntazah, Heavy Metal, Secret Ambition, and Kimbear.

Benbatl, rated 125, won the 2018 Singspiel by 2 1/4 lengths, his first step on the way to a 3 1/2-length thrashing of the excellent Japanese mare Vivlos in the Dubai Turf that spring. Benbatl had an active nine-race 2018 campaign but hadn’t raced in about 11 months when he notched an eye-catching 5 1/2-length victory in the Group 2 Joel Stakes in September at Newmarket. He wanted no part of heavy ground on British Champions Day, finishing last of 16. Benbatl towers over the other Singspiel entrants, with his stablemate Dream Castle second-highest rated among the entrants at just 112.

Also on the card is the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial, an early prep for the Group 2 UAE Derby on the World Cup undercard.