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Dubai Warrior bids to add to his six all-weather victories when he tackles dirt for the first time in round two of the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan on Thursday.
Trainer John Gosden is optimistic the surface will not pose a problem to the five-year-old, whose biggest success so far came in the Winter Derby at Lingfield last February.
A @FrankieDettori masterclass as Dubai Warrior wins the Betway Winter Derby! @LingfieldPark@awchampspic.twitter.com/w0MQYZuFew
The son of Dansili will have the services of Frankie Dettori, who is the most successful jockey in the history of a race inaugurated in 1994 with five victories and currently leads the way at this year’s Dubai Carnival.
“He has been pleasing in his work and works nicely enough on the dirt. Obviously, a race is a different matter, so we will find out if he handles it Thursday,” said Gosden.
Among Dubai Warrior’s opposition is Uruguayan raider Ajuste Fiscal, who was fifth to Military Law in round one of the Maktoum Challenge three weeks ago.
Trainer Antonio Cintra Pereira said: “We were very pleased with that first run and the longer trip will suit. We still hope he is a Dubai World Cup horse.”
Three other horses from round one – Thegreatcollection (second), Salute The Soldier (third) and Capezzano (seventh) – renew rivalry.
Thegreatcollection’s trainer Doug Watson said: “We have been keen to step him up from 1600m, so this is the ideal opportunity.
“Obviously it is a good race to stretch him out. I think it will suit him, but it is a strong race.”
Capezzano is one of three runners from Salam bin Ghadayer’s stable along with Blown By Wind and Firnas.
Bin Ghadayer said: “Blown By Wind delighted us at Jebel Ali and has been working well since. Capezzano is also going nicely at home, we just need him to transfer that back to the course.
“Firnas too is in good shape. He is tough and consistent.”
View the card: 16:15 Meydan - Maktoum Challenge (Group 2)
David O’Meara’s Lord Glitters will attempt to follow up a recent course and distance triumph in the Al Rashidiya.
The admirable eight-year-old lifted the Group Two Singspiel Stakes in convincing fashion three weeks ago. He has a 3lb penalty to defy in a race monopolised by British-trained runners.
Back to winning ways!👏
LORD GLITTERS wins for the first time since landing the 2019 Queen Anne, staying on strongly to take the (Group 2) Singspiel Stakes at @MeydanRacing for @omeararacing! 🏇pic.twitter.com/p9Jf0Iv8I3
O’Meara said: “That was brilliant in the Singspiel – to travel an eight-year-old and win a big prize was just great. The penalty does not help, but he has remained in great form.”
Godolphin have won this Group Two contest for the last four years and have two contenders this time in the Charlie Appleby-trained Zakouski and Saeed bin Suroor’s Dream Castle. They were second and third respectively behind Lord Glitters in the Singspiel.
Appleby said: “We were obviously pleased with Zakouski’s first outing of the year in the Singspiel Stakes, when he produced a good effort. He has come on for that run and a slightly improved performance should put him bang there.”
Bin Suroor said of Dream Castle: “He ran very well last time and came out of the race in great form. The 1800 metres at Meydan is ideal for him and we expect another big run.”
David Simcock’s Bless Him, the Ed Walker-trained Cap Francais, Simon Crisford’s Court House and Ralph Beckett’s Kinross complete the seven-strong field.
View the card: 16:50 Meydan - Al Rashidiya (Group 2)
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RACING IS NOT alone in its ability to think little or nothing about the ethics of how the sport is funded, though one wonders was there a little deviation in that regard on Tuesday evening.
BBC Panorama’s broadcast The Missing Princess revealed secretly recorded videos from Princess Latifa, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, and long one of racing’s great spenders.
In the shocking documentary, Princess Latifa claimed to be held “hostage” in Dubai by her father. Videos illustrate she was crouched against the wall in a bathroom, but months ago she lost contact on WhatsApp with her friends, who have no idea about her welfare now.
There is an Irish element to the story: our former President, Mary Robinson, travelled to meet Princess Latifa on the request of Sheikh Mohammed’s sixth wife, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein. Latifa says in the documentary she was released for a few hours from her captivity to have lunch with the pair of women, photographs of which were since used by the UAE regime to illustrate the Sheikh’s daughter’s apparent wellbeing.
Robinson told Panorama: “I was misled, initially by my good friend Princess Haya, because she was misled. Haya began to explain that Latifa had quite a serious bipolar problem.”
Last year, the High Court in London found that Sheikh Mohammed “ordered and orchestrated” the abduction and forced return to Dubai of Princess Latifa twice, in 2002, and again in 2018. In April 2019 Princess Haya fled to Britain, taking her two children with her.
As a racing fan, perhaps most unsettling of all watching a traumatic documentary was the footage of Masar’s 2018 Derby triumph, the 16/1 chance providing Godolphin with its first Derby win, a spectacular failure given that Sheikh Mohammed’s first winner in Britain had been some 41 years earlier.
Videos showed Queen Elizabeth II congratulating the Sheikh, broadcaster Matt Chapman bravely interviewing him in the parade ring despite the presence of his entourage, and the racecourse PA raising his voice to congratulate him on the tannoy to warm applause from the Epsom crowd.
Sheikh Mohammed smiled on that sunny day at Epsom like a man without a world’s care, unlike his daughter, who – according to her video messages aired by Panorama – had been drugged and sent back to Dubai after a yacht on which she was attempting to flee was taken over by Indian special forces. During this time, Latifa allegedly pleaded that she was seeking asylum and that the operation by Indian forces was in violation of international law. The Indian authorities have never issued a statement on what happened.
Little is said about Sheikh Mohammed, though it is understood Queen Elizabeth II since refuses to be photographed in public with him.
This is a pretty grotesque look for racing at a time when the sport’s funding is in the spotlight with a general clamour to clamp down on gambling. The British Gambling Commission has warned of the potentially “disastrous” unintended consequences for racing of the proposals for stringent new affordability checks to tackle problem gambling online, including a proposal to impose a threshold on net monthly gambling loss at as little as £100, leading to customers having to provide evidence they could afford to lose more.
Nevin Truesdale and Martin Cruddace, the chief executives of the Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company respectively, have said the true cost could be colossal, with Cruddace outlining a worst-case scenario of £100 million to the Racing Post.
With a gambling regulator likely in place in Ireland later this year, what happens in Britain will be keenly observed here, but racing’s effective reliance on punters losing money that they cannot afford illustrates just how perilous its funding structure is in this part of the world.
And that is not to mention Arab oil wealth wasted on a sport that tends to ensure a dismal return on investments. “No individual is bigger than racing itself, so they say,” wrote the Guardian’s Greg Wood last year, “but Sheikh Mohammed comes mighty close.”
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The recent death of the benevolent Saudi Prince, Khalid Abdullah, was another shock to the sport at a time when prize-money in Britain is perhaps worse than it has ever been. Prize money at Britain’s top ten flat races last summer fell to just £3.8m, according to data provided by the British Horseracing Authority, the industry regulator, a 63% fall from the £10.3m offered at the same races last year.
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Something, clearly, has to give.
***
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The pandemic, of course, has worsened prize-money woes, and Cheltenham is approaching like a train would a platform usually heaving but now manned only by a bloke with a whistle. The Arkle seems the most exciting race of the lot on paper and Allmankind did his chance no harm with another rampant performance at Warwick Monday.
The ground probably blunted his speed a bit and he takes on both Shishkin and Energumene next month but I am surprised how big he remains in the betting with William Hill. He has been nothing short of sensational so far and Energumene will not surely appreciate the drying terrain, unlike the selection.
Recommendation (scale 1-5)
Allmankind to win Arkle
1pt each-way 8/1