Dubai: Qatari raider TM Fred Texas is back as defending champion but does not have current form to back his credentials, leaving his full brother TM Junior Johnson among a handful of other highly talented Purebred Arabians out to depose him.
Since his classy win 12 months back, the son of Burning Sand went to the US to add another Grade 1 triumph but suffered four successive losses in both France and Qatar after that.
Olivier Peslier, who won this race on Seraphin Du Paon, is on board while last year’s winning jockey Adrie de Vries will be on the 2011 winner, both up against some strong contenders.
TM Junior Johnson, Seraphin’s stablemate from UAE champion-elect trainer Ernst Oertel, is the choice of Tadhg O’Shea and with the UAE champion jockey in the saddle, the fact that it will be his first run in over a year could be overlooked. But it will be Junior Johnson’s first trip in the UAE, his first on the Tapeta and first beyond seven furlongs — a distance he has dominated with five wins and a second-place finish in six starts.
Oertel feels there is little to choose between his pair as Seraphin Du Paon, the 2011 winner and 2012 runner-up, runs with blinkers on this time while Junior Johnson has been training well on the Tapeta.
Eric Lemartinel’s Nieshan won the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge for Purebred Arabians on Super Saturday against some very strong opposition and will stake strong claims to win the Dubai World Cup opener on his third attempt.
The French trainer also has Albar Lotois and a promising UAE-bred star in AF Sanadek — a five-year-old Burning Sand son who is unbeaten in his last seven starts in the UAE, but all over a mile or less.
In one of the most open Dubai Kahayla Classic races, Nieshan’s danger can come from any of the five runners from Majid Al Jahouri’s yard. The Emirati trainer is in red-hot form with four Group 1 wins this season.
Though beaten twice by Nieshan, Al Jahouri feels Naseem could be his best bet while Areem is also a strong contender. “Areem has had big wins at Abu Dhabi and Meydan. If he stays 2,000 metres, he could be hard to catch as Ahmad Ajtebi gets on well with him,” Al Jahouri said.
Rich Frynchman and Al Mamum Monlau are two other entries from TM Fred Texas’s owner, Shaikh Jouan Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. Al Mamum Monlau is a quirky character and the calming influence of Christophe Soumillon could see this Munjiz son in the final frame.
Erwan Charpy’s Versac PY is the one to watch after being beaten by Nieshan and Albar Lotois in two successive Group 1 contests leading to the Kahayla.
GN Selections
1. Nieshan
2. Naseem
3. TM Junior Johnson
