Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds, technically 4 years old on the Northern Hemisphere calendar, hold the key to the Group 3, $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan on Thursday night.
Dim Sum ushered in the Year of the Rabbit before a festive Chinese New Year’s crowd of 96,000 at Sha Tin on Saturday as he held off the late challenge of the 3-5 favorite, Sacred Kingdom, by a neck to land the Group 1, $578,000 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
Bold Silvano gave trainer Mike de Kock his fourth win of the night with a handy triumph in Round 2 of the Group 3, $200,000 Maktoum Challenge at Meydan on Thursday.
Sacred Kingdom, Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year in 2010, will step back up to six furlongs on Saturday at Sha Tin in the $577,000 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, a Hong Kong Group 1 sprint he won in 2008 and 2010.
The Ben Cecil-trained Crowded House and the Team Valor-owned Gitano Hernandez are among five Group 1 or Grade 1 winners in Thursday night's Maktoum Challenge at Meydan.
Beauty Flash confirmed his recently acquired position as the Hong Kong’s leading miler at Sha Tin on Sunday, although he had to work much harder to win the $1 million Stewards Cup than he did when winning the more prestigious Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 12.
Beauty Flash will attempt to add to his Dec. 12 Hong Kong Mile success at Sha Tin on Sunday in the $1 million Stewards Cup Mile.
Presvis returned to form at Meydan on Thursday night when he swept to a last-to-first 4 3/4-length victory in the Group 2, $200,000, Al Rashidiya, a 1 1/8-mile course-and-distance prep for the $5 million Dubai Duty Free.
Trainer Mike de Kock is always the danger man in Dubai, and he will be cast in that role at Meydan on Thursday night when he saddles Irish Flame in the Group 2, $200,000 Al Rashidiya, a course-and-distance prep for the 1 1/8-mile, $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 27.
Aspectoflove outdueled longshot Thai Haku in the $200,000 Cape Verdi Stakes at Meydan on Thursday night as the luckless favorite River Jetez closed with a rush for third in the one-mile Group 2 race for fillies and mares.
