Seemar scores in UAE 2000 Guineas and Al Maktoum Challenge
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Bhupat Seemar for the last few seasons has trained a large portion of the best dirt horses in Dubai, a dynamic on full display Friday at Meydan Racecourse, where Seemar’s four-bagger included victories in the featured Al Maktoum Challenge with Imperial Emperor and in the UAE 2000 Guineas, won by Six Speed.
Both horses are headed toward a start on the Dubai World Cup card, Imperial Emperor in the World Cup itself, Six Speed in the UAE Derby.
The UAE 2000 Guineas, contested over a one-turn mile, is part of Churchill Downs’s European/Middle East Road to the Kentucky Derby, and Six Speed picked up 20 points. Those won’t help him get to the Derby if he doesn’t capture the UAE Derby, where the winner gets 100 points and punches his ticket to Churchill.
Six Speed scored by almost five lengths over Devon Island in what appeared to be a modest field. An American-bred son of Not This Time and Browse, by Medaglia d’Oro, Six Speed debuted Oct. 29 and has won his last three outings. The 2000 Guineas his first try beyond seven furlongs. Seemar said after the race connections weren’t certain Six Speed would stay a mile, but the colt did not waver through the race’s final furlong.
Imperial Emperor saw his lead decrease through the final furlong of the Al Maktoum Challenge, a Group 1 worth $1 million contested over 1 3/16 miles but still won by a little less than 1 1/2 lengths over the formerly American-based gelding Tumbarumba. Second in this race a year ago, Imperial Emperor, a 6-year-old son of Dubawi, went on to win the Al Maktoum Classic in his next race before bringing up the rear of the 11-horse World Cup. Tumbarumba, trained through the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by Brian Lynch, finished eighth last month in his Dubai debut and improved by many lengths Friday.
Seemar’s other two winners came in the Firebreak Stakes, a one-turn dirt mile, won by Mendelssohn Ridge, and in the Al Shindagha Sprint, a six-furlong dirt dash in which Drew’s Gold prevailed by about 1 1/2 lengths.
Opera Ballo, a 4-year-old Godolphin colt trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, won for the sixth time in eight starts, impressively capturing the Group 1 Jebel Hatta over 1 1/8 miles on grass. Headed for the Group 1 Dubai Turf on the World Cup card, Opera Ballo stalked the pace while well in hand and full of run before steadily quickening once clear in the homestretch on the way to a 2 1/2-length victory over Silawi, winner of the Grade 1 Canadian International last fall at Woodbine.
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