Out of the fog wall and onto the track walked Dubai World Cup favorite Twice Over a little past 6 a.m., his trainer, Henry Cecil, out at the track for the first morning since flying here from England. The part of Twice Over’s gallop that could be observed revealed a horse apparently in peak condition.
Euroears isn’t well known to racing fans in the United States. The 7-year-old has been in and out of action because of injury, and until Jan. 22, none of his best races had come under the brighter lights of racing on the East or West Coast. The international-circuit folks here in Dubai are even less familiar with him, but people might better know Euroears after the $2 million Golden Shaheen.
One can typically start analyzing the $5 million Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night by crossing out any American horses entered in the race.
Using recent form as a guide, it’s Secretariat runner-up Wigmore Hall who has the advantage over Arlington Million winner Debussy in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on Saturday night.
The 2010 Dubai World Cup, the first World Cup held at colossal Meydan Race Course, offered racing’s first eight-figure purse and was decided by about two inches. We may be in for another close one. Twice Over won the third leg of the Maktoum Challenge here March 3 by almost three lengths, is he clearly better than American champion Gio Ponti, who beat him by more than a length in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic?
It’s been an eventful several days for trainer Mike de Kock. Bold Silvano, among the top older horses in Dubai this winter, was taken out of World Cup consideration last weekend after suffering what was called a minor injury. But de Kock’s bad luck also was de Kock’s good fortune, since Bold Silvano’s defection allowed the de Kock-trained Golden Sword into the World Cup.
The American-based Fly Down drew the rail and Golden Sword post 14 during Wednesday's draw for Saturday night's $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Dubai World Cup contender Gio Ponti did not go fast enough to record a timed workout, but two-minute licked six furlongs Wednesday morning at Meydan, picking up the pace about 1,000 meters before the finish and going out 200 meters past it, according to Christophe Lorieul, assistant to trainer Christophe Clement and Gio Ponti’s rider in Dubai.
Bob Baffert likes to nickname his horses. Real Quiet, for instance, Baffert called The Fish, so narrow was the colt when seen head-on. And Euroears, the horse Baffert has followed to Dubai for Saturday night’s Golden Shaheen? “I call him The Natural,” Baffert said.
It was not mainly for more consistency that Gio Ponti was brought back to race during his 6-year-old season. It was, in great part, to try and finish first in a race like the $10 million Dubai World Cup, which Gio Ponti will try to do Saturday night.
