DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Leave it to jockey Christophe Soumillon to sum up the nature of Vazirabad in one efficient phrase.

“My horse saw the horses in front of him, and he just wants to catch them,” Soumillon said.

Wants to, and usually does. On Saturday, Vazirabad came from the back of the pack with a mighty blast and cut down those horses in front of him. Buzzing to the front with about 100 meters to run, he won the $1 million Dubai Gold Cup for the third year in a row. No other horse has won a World Cup race three years running.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The internationally renowned jockey Ryan Moore often can be found in the winner’s circle following a million-dollar race, and there he was Saturday at Meydan Racecourse following Heavy Metal’s two-length win in the Group 2, $1 million Godolphin Mile.

Trainer Sandeep Jadhav? He’d never won a race of any sort, much less a seven-figure one, until late Saturday afternoon.

Jadhav was an assistant to trainer Salem Bin Ghadayer, and when Ghadayer got a one-year suspension for a drug positive earlier this month, Jadhav took over the stable.

Cheval Grand, the winner of the Grade 1 Japan Cup last November, will have his first start of 2018 in a tough running of Sunday’s Grade 1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin Racecourse near Osaka, Japan.

Cheval Grand has not raced since finishing third in the Grade 1 Arima Kinen in December behind Kitasan Black, the Japanese Horse of the Year in 2016 and 2017. Kitasan Black has since been retired to stud. The Arima Kinen is annually one of the most prestigious races of the year for older horses in Japan.

Arcada, who finished third in two Group 2 stakes in Ireland and England in 2016, will have his Hong Kong debut in Monday’s $236,981 Hyacinth Handicap at seven furlongs on turf at Sha Tin Racecourse.

Arcada, formerly trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien, was third in the Futurity Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland in August 2016 and the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket, England, a month later. Now trained by Ricky Yiu, Arcada did not race in 2017 because of concern over the tendon in his right foreleg, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s website.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Past the finish in the Japan Cup last Nov. 26, one could see the froth around the mouth of Rey de Oro, who just had run a fine race to finish second of 17 to Cheval Grand. Cheval Grand had gotten a sweet inside trip, while Rey de Oro was forced to come wide, but that froth suggested another reason for Rey de Oro’s defeat – a tendency to pull too hard.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – For a couple years Roy H acted like a morning glory, but since being gelded and kept to dirt racing he has covered himself in glory.

Only bad luck in the Bing Crosby Stakes last summer kept him from a perfect six-start 2017 campaign. America’s best sprinter moves his show to Dubai on Saturday night as a formidable favorite in the Group 1, $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Monday April 2, 2018)

In an unconventional way, Gronkowski has been seeking a spot in the Kentucky Derby since the start of the year.

Instead of running in the traditional prep races throughout the United States, Gronkowski could earn a berth in the Kentucky Derby in faraway Newcastle, England, on Friday.

Gronkowski is part of a field of 10 in the $140,000 Burradon Stakes at a mile on a Tapeta surface.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – When Yulong Warrior won the Al Bastakiya Stakes, a prep for the UAE Derby, by more than 11 lengths on March 10 at Meydan, the colt’s connections started looking ahead – and abroad.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – He has had two long layoffs, including one of more than a year, and two knee surgeries since he last was in Dubai, but X Y Jet is in a better place for the $2 million Golden Shaheen on Saturday than he was when favored to win the race in 2016, trainer Jorge Navarro believes.

“He’s had three knee surgeries, but he’s as clean now as he’s ever been,” Navarro said. “Last time I was here I couldn’t train the horse.”