United Color and Reynaldothewizard, third and fourth in the $2 million Golden Shaheen sprint last March, meet for the first time since that race in Thursday’s $150,000 Dubawi Stakes over six furlongs at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
The Dubawi Stakes is the top race on a seven-race program at Meydan that includes two $75,000 races over seven furlongs on the main track that serve as trials for the United Arab Emirates 1000 and 2000 Guineas in coming weeks.
The British all-weather circuit will expand on Sunday with the resumption of racing at Chelmsford City racecourse east of London, a facility formerly known as Great Leighs.
The track opened in April 2008, but racing ceased in January 2009 after the track lost its license to race because of financial difficulties.
The racecourse, which has a Polytrack synthetic surface, has been renamed under new ownership and will offer 58 days of racing in 2015. The new owners include Fred Done, the owner of the BetFred bookmaking chain and the operator of the British tote system.
Surfer confirmed his fondness for the new dirt track at Meydan Racecourse with a 2 1/4-length win over Frankyfourfingers in Round 1 of the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge on Thursday's opening of the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
The 6-year-old Surfer, an American-bred son of Distorted Humor trained by Satish Seemar, is spending his fourth winter racing in Dubai, but for the first three of those campaigns, his starts at Meydan came over the track’s original all-weather racing surface, and Surfer appears to prefer dirt.
2015 Racing Dates: Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb. 12, Feb. 19, Feb. 26, Feb. 28, March 7, March 28 (Dubai World Cup).
Post Times: 9:30 a.m. ET; March 28 (Dubai World Cup), 7:30 a.m. ET
Gentildonna, the winner of consecutive runnings of the Japan Cup in 2012 and 2013, ended her career with a victory in Sunday’s $3,456,584 Arima Kinen Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse, the last major race of the year in the Far East.
Gentildonna, a 5-year-old Japanese-bred mare by Deep Impact, closed from third in a field of 16 to win the race over 1 9/16 miles on turf by three-quarters of a length over the 3-year-old colt To the World, a 30-1 shot. Gentildonna was the 7-1 fourth choice in the field and was ridden by Keita Tosaki for trainer Sei Ishizaka.
Flintshire, second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, won Sunday’s $2,138,690 Hong Kong Vase, the only horse not based in Hong Kong to win one of four seven-figure international Group 1 races at Sha Tin.
Flintshire (11-10) won the Hong Kong Vase over 1 1/2 miles on turf by a half-length over the locally based Willie Cazals. Ridden by Maxime Guyon for trainer Andre Fabre of France, Flintshire rallied from the middle of the field of 11 to take the lead in the final sixteenth.
Khaya, another Hong Kong-based runner, finished third.
Flintshire will make his third appearance on as many continents this fall when he starts as a strong favorite in Sunday’s Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.
The Group 1 Hong Kong Vase over 1 1/2 miles on turf is one of four major stakes on the biggest day of the Hong Kong racing calendar.
Flintshire was second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in October and the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita in November. A 4-year-old, Flintshire was beaten a half-length by Main Sequence in the BC Turf.
The third attempt at Japan’s top dirt race worked for Hokko Tarumae.
After finishing second in the Japan Cup Dirt in 2012 and 2013, Hokko Tarumae won the renamed $1,665,172 Champions Cup on dirt at Chukyo Racecourse in Nagoya on Sunday.
Imperative, the former claimer who won the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April, is the lone foreign runner in Sunday’s $1,665,172 Champions Cup on dirt at Chukyo Racecourse in Nagoya, Japan.
The Champions Cup, previously known as the Japan Cup Dirt, will be the first start for Imperative since a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Imperative had a troubled start in the BC Classic and finished 9 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Bayern.
