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.
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.
