Versatility a plus for Almond Eye in Dubai Turf

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Really, Christophe Lemaire doesn’t know where he’ll be with Almond Eye a furlong into the $6 million Dubai Turf.

“If she breaks sharp and they go slow, she can sit close. If they go faster, she can be back. It doesn’t matter. She can be wherever she needs to be,” Lemaire said Wednesday at Meydan Racecourse.

Lemaire has been saying a lot of things this week, not because he’s a gabber, but because so many people want to know about Almond Eye. Without even having started at age 4, Almond Eye is considered the best horse in Japan, and where her connections hope she’ll be in October is at the head of the world rankings after winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“She’s already shown a lot of class, but we don’t know yet her limits,” said Lemaire. “Every time we gave her a challenge, she did it very well.”

Almond Eye, trained by Sakae Kunieda for Silk Racing Co., won the Japanese Fillies Triple Crown, races at three different courses over distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/2 miles. She followed that with a 1 3/4-length win against older males and females Nov. 25 in the Group 1 Japan Cup, tracking the high-class Kiseki while clocking 2:20.60 for 2,400 meters, believed to be a world-record time.

“She won quite easily,” Lemaire said. “After the winning post, she was not exhausted.”

As a 3-year-old filly, Almond Eye got a considerable weight break from older males in the Japan Cup, but even in Saturday’s start (race 7, post time 11:20 a.m. Eastern) she carries 55 kilograms, two fewer than older horses.

Almond Eye, well drawn in post 7, will be heavily favored and contrarian bettors will play against her, hoping her first try outside Japan and first start in four months could leave Almond Eye vulnerable. Kunieda doesn’t think so. “She’s getting better and better,” he said.

An all-Japanese-female trifecta in the Dubai Turf isn’t implausible since the Japan-based mares Vivlos and Deirdre rate highly. Vivlos won the 2017 Dubai Turf, contested over about 1 1/8 miles around one turn, finished second in the race last year, and ran so well to be second behind Hong Kong superstar Beauty Generation in the 1,600-meter Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 10 that intended retirement was delayed. Deirdre exits a subpar performance Feb. 24 in Japan but was second in the 2,000-meter Hong Kong Cup on the same card as Vivlos and has excelled at Saturday’s distance. With regular rider Lemaire committed to Almond Eye, Joao Moreira gains the mount.

Dream Castle has ruled the local division this winter but made three starts during the World Cup Carnival and seems more likely to regress than improve again. Wootton, second behind him on March 9, stands a stronger chance of taking a step forward, and at a better price.

Lord Glitters can run well at a price after two excusable sixth-place finishes. Soft, soft ground compromised him when he was sixth in the QE II over a mile on QIPCO British Champions Day, and he had no chance to gain ground on the forwardly placed horses in an extremely slow-paced Woodbine Mile.

Without Parole, trainer John Gosden’s lone starter on the card, won the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes in June but has failed to run back to that level.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained 4-year-old filly I Can Fly had encouragingly progressive form going into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but never picked up on that tricky late-season Churchill turf course.

Unfortunately for I Can Fly, she runs into another 4-year-old filly – Almond Eye – who can really fly.

Tough matchup in Sheema Classic

The matchup between Rey de Oro, one of the kings of Japanese racing, and the young buck Old Persian is likely to decide the $6 million Sheema Classic.

Five-year-old Rey de Oro was well supported a year ago in the Sheema Classic, a 2,400-meter (about 1 1/2-mile) grass race that this year drew just eight entrants. While his 2018 backers surely were let down by his fourth-place finish, there was no shame in it. Last year’s Sheema unfolded at a modest tempo, with Hawkbill setting the pace, and the three horses that occupied the top three spots a half-mile from home still were there at the finish. Rey de Oro came between horses and gained some ground on Hawkbill through the final quarter-mile in a race where almost no one gained any ground through the homestretch.

Rey de Oro, Christophe Lemaire riding for trainer Kazuo Fujisawa, had the summer off and returned with three strong performances, the most recent a second-place finish Dec. 23 in the Group 1 Arima Kinen. Rey de Oro lost meaningful ground on all three turns and still finished strongly to miss by a neck.

Four-year-old Old Persian runs for Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick, the trio behind Hawkbill last year. He captured two Group 2 races over 1 1/2 miles last season in England, the King Edward and the Great Voltigeur, and caught the eye narrowly wining his Sheema prep, the City of Gold Stakes here on March 9. Old Persian got a perfect pocket trip just behind pacesetting Racing History much of that race until his luck suddenly disappeared three furlongs out, with Buick finding his mount completely trapped with no way through. Old Persian finally found a seam and flew home with an impressive burst to nail Racing History, and Appleby has confidence his charge will improve from that start.

Desert Encounter, the 2018 Canadian International winner, finished third in the City of Gold while not coming close to matching Old Persian’s acceleration. Magic Wand, joined in Saturday’s race by Aidan O’Brien stablemate and pacemaker Hunting Horn, finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf racing on Lasix in her North American debut before running second behind Bricks and Mortar in the Pegasus Turf. Both races came over wet courses and Magic Wand could go better on the firmer conditions Saturday at Meydan.

Distance suits Cross Counter

It’s fair to say Cross Counter’s first try at a staying trip proved a success. Sent to Australia for the $5 million Melbourne Cup last November, Cross Counter had 17 horses in front of him with about a quarter-mile left in the two-mile race, passed them all, and gave trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin another major-race success in 2018.

Race 2 over two miles comes Saturday, when Cross Counter starts as the favorite in the Group 2, $1.5 million Dubai Gold Cup. The French horse Vazirabad won the last three editions of the Gold Cup, but injury precluded his participation this year. As for Cross Counter, the race has been his goal since he was let down following Melbourne.

“He had a nice break there in November and December, and in January we started to get him back on the trail toward World Cup Night,” Appleby said. “His training is picking up. The last 10 days he’s back to his ‘A’ game.”

Cross Counter’s chief rival appears to be his stablemate Ispolini, who has emerged as a potentially formidable two-mile horse himself with consecutive wins over 1 3/4 miles at Meydan.

“He’s the interesting horse to me,” Appleby said. “I feel there’s still scope there for improvement, and his last victory, it couldn’t have been more impressive.”