The red-hot Tommy Stack saddled Noll Wallop to win the Group 3, $66,000 Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial on Sunday. The 7-2 son of High Chaparral rallied from fourth under William Lordan to defeat the 7-1 Viscount Nelson, who was squeezed back entering the stretch.
Noll Wallop won by 3 1/2 lengths, getting the mile on soft ground in 1:47.15. Last fall's Group 3 Killavullan Stakes winner, Free Judgement, the 2-1 favorite, weakened to finish sixth of eight, 8 3/4 lengths behind the winner.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Don't mess with American sprinters, especially in Dubai.
Kinsale King, who battled foot problems last summer, became the ninth American based horse since 2000 to win the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.
Kinsale King was the only American-trained runner in the field of 10, and gave owner Patrick Sheehy and trainer Carl O'Callaghan their most lucrative career wins.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - When Gloria de Campeao and Lizard's Desire hit the wire together in Saturday's $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse, it looked like pacesetter Gloria de Campeao had suffered the toughest of beats.
Lizard's Desire's jockey Kevin Shea thrust his right hand in the air in celebration, thinking he had caught Gloria de Campeao in the last stride.
Shea got it wrong. Glorida de Campeao had held on to win the world's richest race by a nose, paying $52.40 in United States betting pools.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Al Shemali was considered good enough as a 3-year-old in 2007 to start in races such as the English 2,000 Guineas and Irish Derby. The idea was correct, the year was wrong.
Al Shemali could not win at that level, back then. It was not until Saturday's $5 million Dubai Duty Free Stakes at Meydan Racecourse that Al Shemali scored the definitive win of his career. Few saw it coming.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - After training Dar Re Mi in Britain all winter, trainer John Gosden was anxious to get his star turf mare to Dubai. Jockey William Buick also could not wait for World Cup Day to arrive.
Buick was announced as Gosden's first-call rider in January. In his first major ride for his new base, Buick, 20, rode Dar Re Mi to a stylish win in the $5 million Sheema Classic at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - After Gio Ponti, the winner of two Eclipse Awards in 2009, flew from Florida to Dubai last week for Saturday's $10 million Dubai World Cup, the 5-year-old was dragging for a few days, suffering from a case of equine jet lag.
But the closer Gio Ponti gets to the World Cup, the brighter he has become, according to his trainer, Christophe Clement.
"It took him a few more days to recover than expected," Clement said on Thursday. "I think he's back to where he should be."
Free Judgement will attempt to pick up where he left off last October on Sunday, when he should go off as the mild favorite in the Group 3, $66,000 Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial. A son of Vindication trained by Jim Bolger, Free Judgement won the seven-furlong, Group 3 Killavullan Stakes in his latest start at Leopardstown last fall and should be able to handle this step up to a mile. Kevin Manning will ride.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Vision d'Etat, a leading contender for Saturday's $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse, will undergo a veterinary inspection early on raceday that will determine whether the four-time Group 1 winner starts in the world's richest race.
Further information on Vision d'Etat's condition and the reason for the inspection was not available on Friday afternoon in Dubai.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Presvis may not be a familiar name in the United States, but the consistency he has shown in Europe and both sides of Asia in the last year is phenomenal.
The 6-year-old gelding has won stakes in Dubai and Hong Kong and placed in stakes in England, Hong Kong, and Dubai. He has finished in the first three in his last 13 starts.
