Dubai World Cup Night

Andrew00

May as well make a thread for Saturday's racing at Meydan.

Almond Eye at 11/8 is some price. Wonder filly. Double with Blue Point looks pretty bombproof to me.

Some cracking races on what is always a great card.

IAMAMORON

Is there any truth to the rumours that I Can Fly is a massive improver and is overpriced at 12 / 1 ? Prep run in Dundalk a few weeks ago? Just behind Roaring Lion at Ascot?


At the ATR stable tour Aidan O'Brien said


"We were delighted with what she did at Dundalk and how she has been at home since. The plan is to run her in the Dubai Turf at Meydan later this month. She has only ran further than a mile on one occasion so far, but she ran very well over a mile on soft ground on British Champions Day, so that would give you encouragement that she will get further. She’s out of a Montjeu mare, so you’d hope that she could be one to find some improvement from three to four. "

tryfix

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Is there any truth to the rumours that I Can Fly is a massive improver and is overpriced at 12 / 1 ? Prep run in Dundalk a few weeks ago? Just behind Roaring Lion at Ascot?


At the ATR stable tour Aidan O'Brien said


"We were delighted with what she did at Dundalk and how she has been at home since. The plan is to run her in the Dubai Turf at Meydan later this month. She has only ran further than a mile on one occasion so far, but she ran very well over a mile on soft ground on British Champions Day, so that would give you encouragement that she will get further. She’s out of a Montjeu mare, so you’d hope that she could be one to find some improvement from three to four. "

She's one of only three older fillies that the powerful O'Brien stable have kept in training and that's an endorsement of her likely talent. The other two are Magical who's a serious Arc prospect and Magical Wand who's there to finally grab a Gp1 after threatening to win one last year. I Can Fly made rapid progress last year and she was staying on brilliantly over 1m at Ascot so the 1m 1f trip should be perfect for her.


She is overpriced because with her fillies allowance she's already able to match a 119 OR colt which puts her ahead of all the field except for the Japanese Superstar Almond Eye who at OR 124 + 3lb sex allowance is way ahead of the field. It will be very hard to beat Almond Eye because she's so good and the Japanese have a great record at this meeting, but her last race was in the 12f Japan Cup so maybe as a 4yo she might be vulnerable at 9f.

It's a great meeting but punters beware, the Royal Blue horses can pull off mad improvement on the home track.

Kauto

tryfix wrote: »

She's one of only three older fillies that the powerful O'Brien stable have kept in training and that's an endorsement of her likely talent. The other two are Magical who's a serious Arc prospect and Magical Wand who's there to finally grab a Gp1 after threatening to win one last year. I Can Fly made rapid progress last year and she was staying on brilliantly over 1m at Ascot so the 1m 1f trip should be perfect for her.


She is overpriced because with her fillies allowance she's already able to match a 119 OR colt which puts her ahead of all the field except for the Japanese Superstar Almond Eye who at OR 124 + 3lb sex allowance is way ahead of the field. It will be very hard to beat Almond Eye because she's so good and the Japanese have a great record at this meeting, but her last race was in the 12f Japan Cup so maybe as a 4yo she might be vulnerable at 9f.

It's a great meeting but punters beware, the Royal Blue horses can pull off mad improvement on the home track.

It's a rubbish meeting. The blue are dominating it now more than they have ever done in the past 15 years. Their horses doped to their eyeballs. Far less foreign horses this year in their midweek meetings than there has been in a long time.
If seeing 50L + between the winner and the last horse on that dirt track is your thing, then best of luck to you.

Mostly Harmless

Kauto wrote: »

It's a rubbish meeting. The blue are dominating it now more than they have ever done in the past 15 years. Their horses doped to their eyeballs. Far less foreign horses this year in their midweek meetings than there has been in a long time.
If seeing 50L + between the winner and the last horse on that dirt track is your thing, then best of luck to you.

Agree with this generally, has got stupid with the level of improvement the blue ones show out there but can never reproduce anywhere else. Switching back to dirt from the tapeta was a terrible move too and has made it virtually impossible for the horses from primarily turf racing nations to compete.

TheMilkyPirate

Roy H out of the Golden shaheen with a foot abscess.

I would echo the sentiment of previous posts here but as a spectacle world cup night is hard to beat.

longshotvalue

Agree with everyone else, this is easily the worst of these meeting ever. Mostly crap races with shot favs.


Anyway I Can Fly wins..

Slattsy

Are the Godolphin horses drug tested?

Kauto

Slattsy wrote: »

Are the Godolphin horses drug tested?

Im sure they are by 'independent' testers

The Mig

Slattsy wrote: »

Are the Godolphin horses drug tested?

His highness tests them. Move along nothing to see here

tryfix

Kauto wrote: »

It's a rubbish meeting. The blue are dominating it now more than they have ever done in the past 15 years. Their horses doped to their eyeballs. Far less foreign horses this year in their midweek meetings than there has been in a long time.
If seeing 50L + between the winner and the last horse on that dirt track is your thing, then best of luck to you.

When you've been starved of decent flat racing over the winter the World Cup night is a feast after the famine.

I was being a tad more careful re the extraordinary improvement shown by horses racing in the Royal Blue. The World Cup in particular can have simply farcical results, but the rest of the night is nowhere near as dodgy.

There are 4 Turf races out of the 8 races, the lowest class one being the 2M stayers race which has the Ascot, Goodwood and Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter running it as well as Gosden's G1 winning Frankel stayer Call The Wind and it's part of the million pound racing race series that Stradivarius won last year.

Both Gp1 Turf and Dirt sprints are proper Gp1 races although enjoying either much would depend on what floats your boat. Dirt racing is an acquired taste but it's huge outside of the European bubble, the meeting isn't about concentrating on European style racing.

I Can Fly's turf race has Japan's Superstar Almond Eye who is just one of three Japanese Gp1 runners in the race and Gosden sends his Without Parole, with a load of G1 placed horses from last year's UK Gp1 mile races taking part. What more could you expect at the start of the season.

The Sheema Classic this year is a bit crap compared to most years but it's usually of a very high standard.

If ye can hold your nose at the often farce of the World Cup itself then it is a great meeting to kick off the flat season.

IAMAMORON

I think it is a grand meeting for the winter months, they have fit it in nicely. If you like your flat racing it must be entertaining at least.

However the doping would be a concern. This forum will never prove it, but besides the obvious improvement in some of the Goldolphin runners, the lack of winners this year from Mike de Kock, David Marnane etc., would for me be indicative of some sort of messing going on.

Pity TG4 gave up the coverage. Rasaí Dubai was always worth a watch, for the fireworks at least.

Kauto

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I think it is a grand meeting for the winter months, they have fit it in nicely. If you like your flat racing it must be entertaining at least.

However the doping would be a concern. This forum will never prove it, but besides the obvious improvement in some of the Goldolphin runners, the lack of winners this year from Mike de Kock, David Marnane etc., would for me be indicative of some sort of messing going on.

Pity TG4 gave up the coverage. Rasaí Dubai was always worth a watch, for the fireworks at least.

Mike De Kock was another who had the needle! Reasons for his demise i thought were to do with Quarantine issues.

Fact is trainers cant survive in this game if the horses are not on something. You can name the trainers in both Ireland and GB that have the good stuff.

IAMAMORON

Kauto wrote: »

Mike De Kock was another who had the needle! Reasons for his demise i thought were to do with Quarantine issues.

Fact is trainers cant survive in this game if the horses are not on something. You can name the trainers in both Ireland and GB that have the good stuff.

When we talk about the good stuff, are we talking about Cobalt? Or other steroids?

Kauto

IAMAMORON wrote: »

When we talk about the good stuff, are we talking about Cobalt? Or other steroids?

Cobalt is used as a masking agent for other drugs. As in any money sport, they are always one step ahead of the testers.

There is also no will to catch any of these guys. If some of the top lads were caught it would bring the sport down.

tryfix

Looking at the World Cup itself, it strikes me that it's become a poorer race than in recent years ( no Arrogate, California Chrome, Animal Kingdom, Curlin types this year ). Last year's winner Thunder Snow was thrashed 9L in his prep race this year, but he was also thrashed 5 1/4L in the same prep race last year. If any of the Godolphin yokes is going to be revved up on the night it'll be this lad and he's a mighty animal when he gets to the front early.

IAMAMORON

My mug Meydan Yankee. ew

13.30 Ekhtiyaar
14.40 Nine Below Zero
15.20 I Can Fly
16.40 Capezzano

I am also doing a Godolphin Steroid Special …. 10c ew Heinz

12.50 Ispolini
13.30 Blue Point
14.05 Divine Image
15.20 Dream Castle
16.00 Old Persian ( Racing History saver )
16.40 Thunder Show ( double dip )

Up the Anabolics with that lot. Enjoy all.

I fancy Aquarium for the Lincoln, Mark Johnston and the legend that is Franny Norton.

longshotvalue

Anyone who has a william hill account they are 4 places on each race.

Ive done a Lucky 15

2:05 Van Beethoven 14/1

4:00 Hunting Horn 50/1

1:30 Lost Treasure 50/1

12:45 Red Galileo 50/1

Needless to say i'll be a major shareholder if that comes off. God loves a trier

The Tetrarch

I am opposing Almond Eye with Deirdre at 18.5 and Vivlos at 27s in the Dubai Turf 9f.
Almond Eye isn't a hype horse as she has good form, but the top level is closely contested.

tryfix

Platinum Warrior should run well at a big price in this 12.50 stayers race.

paddyisreal

Blue poont is a fair animal.

tryfix

Hard to know what to make of the Sheema Classic result with the O'Brien horses beaten 10L and more with no real excuse for them. On the other hand the 2 Japanese horse in 2nd and 3rd were OR 119 and OR 121 horses so the winner must be a proper Gp1 horse.

IAMAMORON

tryfix wrote: »

Hard to know what to make of the Sheema Classic result with the O'Brien horses beaten 10L and more with no real excuse for them. On the other hand the 2 Japanese horse in 2nd and 3rd were OR 119 and OR 121 horses so the winner must be a proper Gp1 horse.

I have seen Ryan Moore have better days in fairness, I am not one to blame jockeys on bad horses or bad runs, but you would like to think she had the beating of some of those.

jkbkhhho7t

That dirty bastard soumillion with the whip again

tryfix

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I have seen Ryan Moore have better days in fairness, I am not one to blame jockeys on bad horses or bad runs, but you would like to think she had the beating of some of those.

I don't think he did anything wrong on Magic Wand, she was handy as she likes to be and when he picked her up to go win the race she just wasn't up to the job. She was fit from her previous good run in the USA. Neither her nor Hunting Horn are that fond of going the full 12f, so there's that and the fact that none of the O'Brien horses there were up for much today.

PS: It was his best ride of the night.