With jockey Ryan Moore diving decisively to the inside for running room 300 yards out, Presvis ran down the game 8-year-old mare River Jetez to capture the $5 million Duty Free by three-quarters of a length.
Saturday night in the $2 million Golden Shaheen, a race in which he had been second last year, Rocket Man finally broke through after four straight second-place finishes in Group 1 races. He blasted by pacesetting Euroears in the final 120 yards and drew away to win by 2 1/4 lengths.
Maybe it was the fact he’d already won the race six times, but Saeed bin Suroor knew when the horses the wire that Khawlah finished first in the UAE Derby. He might have been the only one in the house.
Rocket Man avenged a narrow loss in the $2 million Golden Shaheen in 2010 with a victory in the same race in Dubai on Saturday, catching American pacesetter Euroears in the final sixteenth of the race over about six furlongs.
Skysurfers, capturing the first group or graded stakes in the 10th start of his career, burst to the lead in midstretch and turned back an inside challenge from Mufarrh to win the $1 million Godolphin Mile by a half-length.
J J the Jet Plane confirmed his position as one of the world’s best turf sprinters with a brave victory in the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint, the first Thoroughbred race on Dubai World Cup night.
Kinsale King has been scratched from the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, a race he won last year, because of swelling in his right foreleg.
Video: Daily Racing Form's Marcus Hersh interviews trainers and watches key horses train at Meydan Racecourse during Dubai World Cup Week. Handicapping analysis by Alan Shuback, Brad Free, Dan Illman, and Mike Beer.
The advent of the European racing season this month promises the return of three horses that should excite even the most jaded of racegoers. Goldikova, Workforce, and Frankel will make their debuts between mid-April and mid-May in what is shaping up as a most exciting spring season.
The run-up to the European Guineas season begins at Leopardstown on Sunday when Dunboyne Express will face just three rivals in the Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial, a Group 3 mile worth $67,300.
