Star Safari cuts back in Dubai Millennium Stakes

Star Safari takes a meaningful turn back in trip while stepping out of the handicap ranks to start in the Group 3, $130,000 Dubai Millennium Stakes, but he still could be favored, offering no value at all, in this 2,000-meter turf contest, co-featured on a sleepy six-race card Thursday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Star Safari is one of just eight in the Dubai Millennium, a race lacking in appealing win contenders, and though he is a 5-year-old, Star Safari has raced only six times – winning half his starts – and remains a horse with some upside. He won a 2,000-meter turf handicap during the 2020 World Cup Carnival, getting considerable weight from many of his rivals, and was third in a similar spot returning from an 11-month layoff this past January. Stretched out from about 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles on Feb. 11, Star Safari overcame an outside post and a wide trip to post a measured three-quarter-length win under William Buick, who rides again Thursday for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby. This race is run at level weights, and we shall see if Star Safari can get up in time at this shorter trip.

Godolphin has three more runners, all trained by Saeed bin Suroor, and all, from the appearance of things, past their peak. Royal Marine won a French Group 1 in the fall of his 2-year-old season, but that was 2018, and Royal Marine is winless in 11 subsequent starts. Dream Castle was one of the best middle-distance turf horses during the 2019 World Cup Carnival, but his form slipped somewhat during 2020 and he has lost another step since then. Bedouin’s Story’s 2021 Carnival form is more encouraging, but the 6-year-old has been a 1,400- to 1,600-meter horse throughout his career.

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The other four, the non-Godolphins, occupy the bottom rungs in terms of official ratings and don’t show signs of having upside on the day to belie those numbers.

While Star Safari tries a shorter distance, the horse who chased him home Feb. 11 and looked good doing it, Away He Goes, stretches to about 1 3/4 miles to take on a bevy of Godolphin runners in the Group 3, $195,000 Nad al Sheba Trophy Stakes. Trained by Ismael Mohammed, Away He Goes is wintering in Dubai for the first time and has turned in solid performances in his two Meydan starts, both over about 1 1/2 miles. He’s never raced beyond the trip but stayed on solidly going after Star Safari two weeks ago and meets no world-beaters Thursday.

Ispolini was second in the Dubai Gold Cup on the Dubai World Cup undercard in 2019 but does not look like nearly the same horse now after barely racing during 2020. Ispolini is Appleby’s runner for Godolphin, and in the Nad Al Sheba Trophy it’s bin Suroor’s Godolphin entrants that look stronger.

Volcanic Sky figures to be a key player coming off a second-place finish in a Feb. 4 listed stakes at this distance, and he gets the services of Frankie Dettori. Six-year-old Volcanic Sky mainly is a known quantity over staying trips, while 4-year-old Brilliant Light, beaten a head by Away He Goes in the Star Safari win, tries a trip longer than about 1 1/2 miles for the first time. Brilliant Light, who does have upside, is rated 96 and would be helped were this a handicap rather than a race at level weight, but even getting no advantage there, he has a chance to step forward with a competitive showing if he’s able to stay.

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