Matterhorn becomes Dubai World Cup contender with Maktoum Challenge win

Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was run without fans in attendance, owing to coronavirus concerns, and came a week after the inaugural Saudi Cup, which sucked away some high-level talent that in previous years might’ve raced at Meydan. Yet the seven-race program on Saturday still produced a series of eye-catching performances.

Start with Matterhorn, who in just the second dirt start of his career won the Group 1, $600,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 by 5 ½ lengths. Trained by Salem bin Ghadayer (whose charges so frequently produce huge performances at Meydan) for Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Matterhorn is by Raven’s Pass, who won the Breeder’ Cup Classic over a synthetic surface at Santa Anita, and he had run some very strong races on European all-weather courses to go with Group 3-level turf form.

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Matterhorn made his first dirt start in the one-mile Firebreak Stakes on Feb. 13, finishing third in Capezzano’s win, and over the Dubai World Cup distance of 2,000 meters (about 1 ¼ miles) on Saturday he proved considerably more effective. Jockey Mickael Barzalona let Matterhorn roll along on the lead, and with three furlongs to race, Matterhorn kicked into a higher gear and opened a huge advantage. He might have tired slightly a furlong or so out, but Matterhorn also might merely have been idling with no rival anywhere near him. He stopped the timer in 2:04.44 and could prove a factor again three weeks from now in the $12 million World Cup. Military Law finished second and Mark of Approval was third as American expatriate Quip turned in another flat run finishing seventh.

Equally impressive was Barney Roy, who has resurrected a dormant career in two Dubai starts this winter, the latest an impressive rallying 1 3/4-length victory over the sharp filly Magic Lily in the Group 1, $400,000 Jebel Hatta. Barney Roy, one of Europe’s leading 3-year-olds of 2017, was retired to stud, proved infertile, and returned to training last year, posting a pair of middling performances in Europe. On Jan. 30, he won the Al Rashidiya Stakes, his Dubai debut, in encouraging enough fashion, but his Jebel Hatta marked a serious step forward. Barney Roy and jockey William Buick waited near the rear of the field in this 1,800-meter turf test, began moving up in earnest with 400 meters to run, and ran right over the leading horses a furlong out to win easily. Barney Roy clocked 1:46.09 and led a sweep of the first three placings by Charlie Appleby-trained runners, Spotify coming home third. Barney Roy, a gelding by Excelebration out of Alina, by Galileo, will add depth to the Dubai Turf on March 28.

No horse Saturday put on a flashier show than Wildman Jack, who obliterated the 1,200-meter straight turf course record with a time of 1:07.61. This was no lightning-fast course producing a track-record time, either, since Wildman Jack put 4 ¾ lengths on the high-level runner-up, Ekhtiyaar, getting a front-end, inside trip under Fernando Jara. Doug O’Neill trains Wildman Jack, and O’Neill’s decision to send a string to Dubai in February for the World Cup Carnival has paid off with multiple winners and a host of competitive runs from his stock. None was more impressive than that of Wildman Jack, who ran far and away the best race of his career while making his second start in Dubai. The 4-year-old son of Goldencents and Orientatious, by Orientate, left California this winter with nothing fancier than a first-level allowance victory on his record. Whether he can run back at a level nearly so high three weeks from now in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint remains to be seen.

Also delivering a notable victory: Wafy, a 5-year-old Dubawi gelding only recently switched to dirt racing. Making his second start on the surface, Wafy came from a seemingly impossible position far behind the leader in mid-stretch, getting up to win the Group 3, $350,000 Mahaab al Shimaal by three-quarters of a length over Leading Spirit. Leading Spirit hit the front about 300 meters out and appeared to shorten stride late, helping Wafy’s cause, but all credit to the winner for a roaring finish as he clocked 1:11.49 over a fast dirt track. Satish Seemar trains Wafy for Nasir Askar and Wafy will hope for a strong pace to set up his kick in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen on the World Cup undercard.

Loxley posted a nose upset over Defoe in the Group 2, $350,000 City of Gold, but it’s Defoe who’s likely the horse to watch in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in three weeks. Defoe, a Group 1 European winner, was making his first start since July 27 and was coming hard at the winner the final furlong of this 1 ½-mile grass race, just falling short. Loxley provided another big-race win for Godolphin and Appleby, with Barzalona booting home this gelded 5-year-old son of New Approach.

Even the lesser races on the card yielded good winners. Dirt-debuting Salute the Soldier dominated the Group 3, $350,000 Burj Nahaar, a prep for the Godolphin Mile, winning by 5 ½ lengths over former American horse Axelrod, who actually finished well up the inside fence while no match for the winner. Salute the Soldier, a German-bred 5-year-old gelding by Sepoy, had solid all-weather form from three winters ago, and came into Saturday’s start with good Dubai form, but nothing really foreshadowed such a strong showing Saturday. With Adrie de Vries riding for trainer Fawzi Nass, Salute the Soldier tracked the leaders, made the front without being asked, and dominated the run through the homestretch.

In the listed $300,000 Al Bastakiya Stakes, Emblem Storm beat Tuz by 1 ¼ lengths, although Tuz ran at least as well as the winner after losing precious ground around both turns while caught wide without cover. Emblem Storm, a son of English Channel, was making just his third career start and raced prominently from the beginning under Oisin Murphy. Satish Seemar trains both Emblem Storm and Tuz and figures to run them back in the UAE Derby on March 28.