Amber Sky, a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong in January, proved his status as a world-class turf sprinter with an impressive win in Saturday’s $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.
Ridden by Joao Moreira, Amber Sky led throughout the five-furlong turf race and held off threats from Ahtoug and the 6-5 favorite Shea Shea in the final yards. Amber Sky, the 5-2 second choice, was timed in 56.21 seconds.
Amber Sky won by a neck over Ahtoug, who finished a head in front of Shea Shea.
[bc_video_id:319782:]Certerach won the $1 million Dubai Gold Cup on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse in a race that had as much drama after it had ended as it did during the running.
Certerach, under Jamie Spencer, was leading in the homestretch of the two-mile Gold Cup when he lugged toward the inside rail, crossing in front of several chasing rivals. Among them was Godolphin’s favored Cavalryman, who had to switch out for running room, came charging at Certerach, and missed catching him by a neck.
[bc_video_id:319774:]South African export Soft Falling Rain failed to repeat his 2013 win in the $1 million Godolphin Mile, falling a length short of another South African export, Variety Club, in a sharp renewal Saturday at Meydan Racecourse of the one-mile race over Tapeta.
The 5-year-old Japanese mare Straight Girl is in the best form of her career, having won six of her last seven starts. Sunday, Straight Girl will be favored to win her first Grade 1 race in the $1,935,357 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo Racecourse in Nagoya, Japan. The Takamatsunomiya Kinen is run over six furlongs on turf on a left-handed track.
At $5 million each, the Dubai Duty Free and the Sheema Classic are half as lucrative as the Dubai World Cup, but both races – the Duty Free in particular – drew fields every bit as strong and deep as the main event Saturday night in Dubai.
The Duty Free, at about 1 1/8 miles on turf, boasts the strongest field in the race’s 14-year history. Among the 13 entrants are two mares familiar to American racing fans: Dank won the Beverly D. and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last year, while The Fugue finished second as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Good luck seems to have deserted Ron the Greek in advance of world-class races in recent months.
Back in November, Ron the Greek missed the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita after a quarter crack surfaced days before the race. He was considered a contender for the richest race in the United States.
Two of the better-known entrants in a Dubai World Cup lacking big names drew bookend post positions when the five Group 1 races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup card were drawn Wednesday.
American export Ron the Greek landed the outside post in a 16-horse field, while Prince Bishop, the leading money earner at this year’s Dubai World Cup Carnival, breaks from post 1.
Final declarations for the eight Thoroughbred races on Saturday’s Dubai World Cup card were released Monday, and the $10 million World Cup is on track to go with a full field of 16 runners.
Post positions were drawn Monday for the three non-Group 1 races on the card, but the final fields with post positions won’t be revealed for the card’s four Group 1 races, including the World Cup, until Wednesday.
The Dubai Racing Club on Sunday released likely fields for the eight Thoroughbred races on the March 29 Dubai World Cup program, and though North American participation is sorely lacking this year, the list of prospective starters is star-studded, and the races remarkably deep.
Lord Windermere closed from last in a field of 13 and survived a stewards’ inquiry for a historic win in Friday’s $913,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham Racecourse in western England.
A 20-1 outsider, Lord Windermere finished a short head in front of 16-1 On His Own, but drifted to the right between the last of 22 fences and the finish. The order of finish was not changed after the inquiry.
