Thunder Snow looks solid in Al Maktoum Challenge

Super Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai is supposed to showcase many of the leading hopes for the major races on Dubai World Cup night, but the feature, Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, is only a marginal prep for the $10 million Cup.

Not since 2005, when Electrocutionist did the double, has the winner of Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge gone on to World Cup glory. Two Dubai-based World Cup winners, African Story and Prince Bishop, also won both races, but in different years.

The likely favorite in Saturday’s edition of the Group 1, $400,000 race is Thunder Snow, who will race 1 1/4 miles on dirt for the first time since his ill-fated run in the 2017 Kentucky Derby. There, Thunder Snow balked and basically refused to race less than a furlong after the start.

Thunder Snow has not pulled any such antics since, and after a useful second-place finish going about one mile in Round 1 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, Thunder Snow made a favorable impression winning Round 2 by a neck over about 1 3/16 miles on Feb. 8.

With regular rider Christophe Soumillon serving a suspension, Oisin Murphy has the mount on Thunder Snow, who is trained for Godolphin by Saeed bin Suroor.

Thunder Snow is one of many live contenders on the seven-race program for Godolphin, which will also run Team Talk and Boynton in the Al Maktoum Challenge. In the Group 1, $250,000 Dubai City of Gold over about 1 1/2 miles on turf, the last of Saturday’s races, Godolphin has six of the 14 entrants, including Hawkbill, the 5-year-old stalwart who’s the race’s highest-rated runner and who makes his Dubai debut.

While Hawkbill easily is the City of Gold’s most accomplished entrant, he makes his first start since September, while another Godolphin horse, Best Solution, just ran Feb. 15. Best Solution only won a high-level handicap race last out, but he scored by five lengths in a very sharp performance that stamps him as a major contender Saturday.

The City of Gold is a prep for the $6 million Sheema Classic, while the Group 1, $300,000 Jebel Hatta over about 1 1/8 miles on turf is a prep for the $6 million Dubai Turf. Godolphin is loaded in this race, as well. Topping its five-pronged entry is Benbatl, who has looked like a serious Dubai Turf candidate winning his two Meydan starts this winter. A progressive 4-year-old Dubawi colt trained by bin Suroor, Benbatl won the Group 3 Singspiel Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths returning in January from a layoff of several months, and he came back with a 3 3/4-length win last month in the Group 2 Al Rashidiya. In both races, Benbatl’s visual impression was as strong as his bare margin of victory, and he appears to be a horse that has taken to racing left-handed on a flat track in Dubai after spending his first season in England.

There are three more dirt preps on the Super Saturday card: The Mahab al Shimaal over about six furlongs, a prep for the Golden Shaheen; the Al Bastakiya over about 1 3/16 miles, a prep for the UAE Derby; and the Burj Nahaar over about one mile, a prep for the Godolphin Mile.

The Mahab al Shimaal includes the usual cast of local dirt sprinters, none of whom can hold a candle to the top Americans targeting the Golden Shaheen, such as Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Roy H.

Gold Town, the best 3-year-old dirt horse to have raced this winter in Dubai, is training up to the UAE Derby and won’t start in the Al Bastakiya. Godolphin’s Masar will make his dirt debut here, and his first start since jockey William Buick’s saddle slipped on the far turn, costing Masar all chance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Heavy Metal and Dream Caster are among the top contenders in the Burj Nahaar.

Ertijaal heads the $200,000 Nad Al Sheba Turf Spint, a prep for the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint over the same 1,200-meter (about six furlongs) straight-course trip. Ertijaal’s best distance is 1,000 meters, and he could prove vulnerable Saturday at a short price.

First post for the card is earlier than Meydan standard, 7 a.m. Eastern. The featured Maktoum Challenge is scheduled for 9:55 Eastern.