Thursday’s sixth Meydan meeting of the 2021 Dubai World Cup Carnival officially featured the Gr3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy sponsored by Gulf News.
Godolphin supplied half of the eight runners and promptly delivered the first four home, Frankie Dettori and Volcanic Sky leading home the quartet for Saeed bin Suroor.
Fully 800m out, the Italian had a cheeky look, to see how those behind him were travelling, before grasping the initiative about 100m later, sweeping past early leader Corsen before the field swung into the long home straight.
Frankie Dettori saves his heroics for the official feature race of the night, teaming up with Volcanic Sky to give Saeed bin Suroor his fifth winner in the Gr3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy (Pic – Erika Rasmussen, Dubai Racing Club
That proved a decisive move, the pair opening up sufficient daylight between themselves and their rivals to always look in control.
Stable companion Global Heat, under Andrea Atzeni, tried gallantly in the final 100m, closing to within a short-head with Bin Suroor’s third runner, Brilliant Light, in third. Charlie Appleby’s Ispolini, winner of the race in 2019, was fourth.
Like all five Thoroughbred races on the card, contested on the turf, the 2810m feature was inaugurated in 2010 and Godolphin trainers have now won this staying prize on ten occasions, Bin Suroor saddling half of them.
Homebred, the 6-year-old Street Cry gelding was registering a fourth career success and was making it third time lucky at his first carnival, going one better than his previous start, over the same 2810m, when runner-up to stable companion Dubai Future, himself ridden by Dettori on that occasion, in the Listed Meydan Cup Handicap.
Bin Suroor said: “He has improved with each race this year and Frankie was in exactly the right position and has given him a great ride.
“Hopefully this win will be enough to earn an invitation to the Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night.”
- Gr3 $130,000 Dubai Millennium Stakes (2000m T)
Over 2000m, the main support race, the Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes Sponsored By gulfnews.com, was also all about Godolphin, although ‘only’ a 1-2 on this occasion with William Buick and Star Safari, a third winner on the card for Charlie Appleby, denying Dettori and Bin Suroor a double with Bedouin’s Story. Bin Suroor also saddled the fourth, Dream Castle, the Godolphin trip separated by Halimi in third.
Settled in fifth by Buick, with Dettori in last on the eventual runner-up who had somewhat missed the break, Star Safari loomed up to challenge the principals entering the home straight. Once in front, with about 300m remaining, they always appeared likely to hold the too late challenge of Bedouin’s Story, the 5-year-old gelded son of Sea The Stars stopping the clock in a lot slower time than the track record he set himself winning a handicap exactly a year ago under Mickael Barzalona, his only start of 2020. Third behind his stable companions Ya Hayati and Bright Melody, also a winner on this card, in the Listed Zabeel Turf Handicap on his seasonal return, he then won a 2400m turf handicap a fortnight ago.
It was a first win on the evening for Appleby’s stable jockey Buick who said: “He is a nice horse and he is starting to become the finished article as he improves with his racing.
“I was happy to be positive as he stays further and he has not had much racing, so you would hope he can build on this.”
Appleby was winning the race for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in six years, all bar Spotify in 2019 ridden by Buick.
