Mawj makes first start since Breeders' Cup in Jebel Hatta, prep for Dubai Turf

Beaten an eyelash in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Mawj has taken her talents back to Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, where she stars Friday on an all-stakes nine-race card that’s a stepping-stone to the Dubai World Cup card on March 30.

Mawj led until the last jump of the Nov. 4 BC Mile, nipped on the line by Master of The Seas, who like Mawj, raced in Godolphin blue. Saeed bin Suroor trains Mawj and Oisin Murphy rides her, while Master of The Seas came from the Charlie Appleby wing of Godolphin and was ridden by William Buick. And if anyone is beating Mawj on Friday in the Group 1, $504,000 Jebel Hatta, it is probably the Appleby-trained Measured Time.

Measured Time, a 4-year-old colt, has won four of five career starts and in his Dubai debut was a front-running course-and-distance winner of the Al Rashidiya Stakes. In the Jebel Hatta, contested over 1,800 meters around one turn, Measured Time probably will neither lead nor win.

Mawj, a newly turned 4-year-old filly, does her racing on the front end and has been tough as nails. She won the English 1000 Guineas last May, didn’t start again until October, returning to action in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, where she went wire to wire over this distance. Mawj has the $5 million Dubai Turf on the World Cup card as her major goal, and while this start is meant to get her to that race, Mawj won’t lose if she comes close to her standard performance level. She’s well drawn in post 5 and gets a sex allowance of between 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 pounds from her eight male rivals.

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While Mawj most recently raced in United States and comes out of a Breeders’ Cup race, Clapton also exits a Breeders’ Cup start while making his first appearance outside of the country. Eleventh of 12 in the BC Classic, Clapton is the headliner in Round 2 of the Al Maktoum Classic, a Group 1 worth roughly $1 million to be contested at 1,900 meters, about 1 3/16 miles, as a stepping-stone to the World Cup.

Trained by Chad Summers, Clapton was purchased last year by Dubai-based RRR Racing with the aim of getting him to the World Cup, though he will need something better than his flat Classic to contend in that race. Clapton’s previous start produced a solid win in the $500,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, and a showing near that level likely would yield a win Friday. Antonio Fresu, who has been riding in Southern California but in recent winters was based in Dubai, travels to take the mount.

Laurel River also makes his first start outside the U.S., though he was purchased late in 2022 and hasn’t raced since winning the Pat O’Brien Stakes on Aug. 27, 2022. More miler than pure sprinter, Laurel River, trained by Bhupat Seemar, faces eight rivals in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint, a 1,200-meter race likely to prove too short for a horse returning from a very long break.

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