I’m delighted to be writing for Racebets throughout the remainder of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, which builds up to the hugely valuable Dubai World Cup night on March 30.
Coming out to work in Dubai at this time of year is fantastic for body and soul and Saeed Bin Suroor, who I’m riding out for, has a lot of nice horses for the weeks ahead.
Thunder Snow is our big hope. He looks a million dollars and he’s going to be aimed at the Dubai World Cup and he’ll likely have a prep in something before then but he looks great, he really does. Benbatl, another one of our big hopes, is on target for a race on Super Saturday and then he’ll try to win the Dubai Turf again.
What happens next with Royal Marine is a bit more of a puzzler after his run in the UAE 2,000 Guineas Trial last week. He came out here with great expectations and it was disappointing for everyone that he didn’t win as we all had big hopes for him.
They said he blew for a long time afterwards and may have needed the run, but I don’t think we’ll see him on the dirt again. He’ll likely go back on the turf and he’ll be an entirely different horse altogether.
Looking ahead to this week, here are the runners I think it’s worth keeping an eye on:
We have two runners in the race but I think Charlie Appleby’s runner Poetic Charm will win this. They’re also talking up Furia Cruzada out here, although I can’t see it myself. Asoof might need the run on her first start for a while whereas Victory Wave has had an outing and that should be a plus. Victory Wave’s come on for that run and I think she’s got a strong chance of being at least placed.
I like this horse a lot and I think he’s our best chance of a winner on the night. Forget his run in the Cambridgeshire last time. He looks great and he’s working really well too. I’ve not sat on him but I’ve ridden work with him and I like everything he’s doing. I’d be disappointed if he’s not involved in the finish in this race. We also run a horse called High End, who’s not run for 461 days. He’s one to watch with a view to the future as I think he can do well.
They think a lot of this horse and he should’ve come on from his debut effort a couple of weeks ago. He’s drawn in stall one and he’s going to be ridden cold from that draw I’d have thought and bring him through late. I have a lot of time for his jockey Dane O’Neill and he’s a horse to keep on side on the getting out stakes.
Good luck,
Kieren
