G2 – 2410m – Turf
Horse Racing
Season
Dubai City Of Gold - Form Comments
| 1 | Earnshaw | Won the first two races of his career and has been beaten in the next 22! He’s certainly run some good races including last time, running a close third in a G3 – doing his best work when it was too late. He’s tried this longer trip and probably stays it, but he remains an unreliable proposition. |
| 2 | Frontiersman | On his Meydan debut, with just one start this year over notably further than this on the sand at Wolverhampton – a slightly disappointing third though his trainer thinks he just didn’t last that distance. He has some very solid listed and group form from the UK and is best suited by a fast grass surface. |
| 3 | Called To The Bar | A lightly raced four-year-old who dominated from the front when winning a G3 over a similar distance to this at Saint-Cloud last May. Not seen since running a cracking second in a G1 over 2000m on the turf at Belmont Park last July.This French-trained colt clearly has a lot of talent. |
| 4 | Janzoon | Nothing special in the UK last season but he’s done well since arriving in Meydan, winning two of his four starts – both handicaps over 2000m. Despite receiving a bump he did well to finish third in a 2410m handicap last time but this is a much stiffer test. He tends to close late. |
| 5 | Elhamme |
Has had lots of gaps between races so has clearly had problems. He returned from a 392-day break to finish eighth in a 2000m handicap last month, never getting into the action. Not an obvious one for this but it is interesting that Godolphin have kept this eight-year-old in training. |
| 6 | Gold Star | Having his first start in group company but he is a three-times winner who has been performing with reliability at Meydan this year. Badly hampered over this distance in February, he still managed to win. For whatever reason he didn’t run quite as well last time. |
| 7 | Newlands | Did perform way better than on his two previous starts when a running on fourth in a 2000m handicap here earlier in the month. However this six-year-old gelding will surely start at very long odds for this competitive G2 contest. |
| 8 | Memorial Day | A seven-year-old gelding who has raced just 12 times but proved effective at up this distance with four wins in the UK. He didn’t show much in this race last year when a big-priced outsider. He ran third in a handicap here last month after nearly a year off, leading but too keen and fading late. |
| 9 | Trouble Of Course | He won a G3 over 1800m at Ovrevoll, Norway, finishing fast from off the pace that day. However Scandanavian form doesn’t often translate to Meydan and, though not disgraced, he’s not been fast enough for either of his two Meydan races this year. Up in distance. |
| 10 | Al Sahem | Won the South African Derby over a similar distance to this last May. Trainer Mike de Kock has talked of Hong Kong ambitions for him and has not been hard on him in training, but he did make some nice late headway when sixth in a 2000m G3 here last month. An interesting contender. |
| 11 | Hawkbill | Very dangerous when he gets an uncontested lead as he did when beating today’s rival Frontiersman and four others in a G2 at Newmarket last July. Two excellent seconds in G1 company in Germany and Canada followed and,if he is fit and ready to roll on this reappearance, he must have a big chance. |
| 12 | Gilt Complex | He won a valuable local G1 over 2200m at Kranji in Singapore last November – surging late -but he was beaten a long way in both starts at Meydan in February so unless we see some dramatic improvement he won’t be winning this. |
| 13 | Treasury Notes | His five wins in the UK all came at around a mile and mixed messages from his pedigree as to whether this much longer trip with be suitable. He finished fast on his Meydan debut after a 336 day break when second in a 1600m handicap here in February. He never threatened in a G2 subsequently. |
| 14 | Best Solution | A solid horse at this level who looked really good when giving weight and a thrashing to four rivals in a handicap over a similar distance to this last month. This five-times winner has plenty going for him here and whilst he doesn’t appreciate very fast ground, Meydan’s comfortable turf surface looks fine. |
Others
09/03/2018
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09/03/2018
