DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – They call Joao Moreira “The Magic Man” at his home base in Hong Kong, and on Saturday night, Moreira made a Japanese mare named Vivlos appear out of thin air to win the $6 million Dubai Turf.
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DRF Past Performances
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Trainer Chad Summers wants Mind Your Biscuits to prove he can run a route of ground at some point this year. But for all intents and purposes, he already has.
At least six paths wide into the turn and losing precious ground all the way around the bend, Mind Your Biscuits stormed to the lead with a little more than 100 meters left to run and won the Group 1, $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen by three lengths, going away. The colt ran much farther than everyone else in the six-furlong Shaheen – and was much, much better than them.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Thunder Snow was a very good horse racing on the European turf last year, and he is doing pretty well so far on dirt.
After winning the UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan Racecourse in his dirt debut, Thunder Snow ran out a dead-game nose winner over the Japanese colt Epicharis on Saturday in the Group 1, $2 million UAE Derby.
Thunder Snow gave jockey Christophe Soumillon his second straight win on the card, following his Gold Cup triumph on Vazirabad, and became the eighth UAE Derby winner for Saeed bin Suroor, who trains Thunder Snow for Godolphin.
The Right Man, a 20-1 outsider, had the right trip in Saturday’s Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint on turf at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
The American shipper Long On Value was not as fortunate and nearly won the race despite a troubled trip early in the $1 million race on a straightaway course.
The Right Man, who finished 11th in a Group 1 sprint in France last August, held off a determined rally from Long On Value to win by a nose. Ridden by regular rider Francois Xavier-Bertras, The Right Man ran about six furlongs on a yielding turf course in 1:09.59.
The French stayer Vazirabad is very much at home in the Dubai desert.
For the second consecutive year, Vazirabad won the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Saturday on the undercard of the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, Vazirabad closed from about ninth in the final three furlongs to win by a neck over the 5-year-old mare Beautiful Romance. Vazirabad ran about two miles on a yielding turf course in 3:14.76.
“Fortunately for us, the pace was quite good, so I knew we could make [up] some lengths,” Soumillon said.
Red Falx was in peak form in Japan last year, winning three consecutive starts from June to October, highlighted by a victory in the Grade 1 Sprinters’ Stakes in the fall.
The successful run ended with a 12th-place finish in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Racecourse in December.
More than three months later, Red Falx will have his 2017 debut in Sunday’s Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs on turf at Chukyo Racecourse in Japan. The $1.733 million Takamatsunomiya Kinen drew a full field of 18.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The Dubai Golden Shaheen is not supposed to be a handicap, but it kind of worked out that way. The best horse in the race, Mind Your Biscuits, was saddled with post 14 for the dirt race over 1,200 meters, or about six furlongs.
“It’s not what we would have chosen,” said trainer Chad Summers.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Bob Baffert runs a lot of his horses in blinkers, a holdover from days long ago training Quarter Horses, and so it was no surprise to see a Baffert-trained colt named Arrogate wearing blinkers while finishing third in his career debut last April.
When Arrogate returned to race six weeks later, he had lost his hood, and the colt has not lost since. It turned out that Arrogate wanted to be able to see the world around him. And now, Baffert and Juddmonte Farms, Arrogate’s owner, are letting the world see Arrogate.