Meydan: Heavy Metal, Gale Force Ten meet in Al Fahidi Fort Stakes

Heavy Metal, winner of two Group 1 races in South Africa last year, and 2013 Royal Ascot winner Gale Force Ten are among 14 runners in Thursday’s $250,000 Al Fahidi Fort Stakes at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

The Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort is run over seven furlongs on turf.

Heavy Metal, a 6-year-old gelding, has not started since winning the Durban July Stakes over 1 3/8 miles on turf last July. Trained by Sean Tarry, Heavy Metal won the Group 1 President’s Champions Challenge over 1 1/4 miles on turf last April.

Gale Force Ten won the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2013 for trainer Aidan O’Brien, but has since been sold to Wilgesbosdrift Stud and is trained by Michael de Kock. The Al Fahidi Fort will be the first race for Gale Force Ten since a fourth in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp in Paris last September.

The field includes the French stakes winner Mshawish and the English stakes winner Dux Scholar.

Mshawish will be ridden by Frankie Dettori, who was scheduled to return to riding in England on Wednesday after recovering from an ankle injury suffered in a paddock accident last fall. Mshawish won the Prix de Tourgeville at Deauville, France, last August.

Dux Scholar was fourth in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp last October. Dux Scholar, 6, has raced in the Middle East and Eastern Europe in recent seasons.