Dubai: Godolphin handler Saeed Bin Surour is entitled to be looking forward to next months’s English 2000 Guineas (G1) with bated breath after watching his up-and-coming Benbatl run an absolute blinder to finish third in the Craven Stakes (G3) over a mile at Newmarket in the UK on Thursday.
An impressive debut winner in a Doncaster maiden over a short trip at the Rowley Mile course earlier this month, the Dubai colt exhibited his Classic potential with another big effort in the hands of former British champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa.
Clearly not quite the finished article, having looked too keen during the early stages of the historic contest, Benbatl ran on strongly from the back of the seven-horse field to finish just a length and a quarter behind the winner, Eminent, the mount of Jim Crowley.
Pre-race favourite, Rivet, winner of the two big two-year-old contests on the back end of last season, the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes (G1) and Racing Post Trophy (G1), finished second for Frankie Dettori in what was a hot renewal of the famous prep for the European Classics and an early point to the Epsom Derby in June.
British bookmakers were quick to reshuffle the odds following Craven slashing Eminent to 10s (from 33) and Benbatl to 16 (from 50) for the Guineas on May 6.
Eminent also stormed up the Epsom Derby betting with a price of 16 for the June 3 Classic while Benbatl’s potential to stay the longer trip was still in question with a quote of 33/1.
Trained at Newmarket by Martyn Meade, Eminent is a once-raced son of the great Frankel.
Meade was delighted and said: “I’m so thrilled, it’s so nice when they back you up. I’ve had to show a little bit of caution, but he’s shown everything there that we’ve asked him to do.
“Now what have we got on our hands?
“I’d hope there’s improvement there. He was coming here as a prep race because that is what it is, we didn’t have him tuned completely but he did just what we wanted him to do.
“I can hardly speak it is so exciting. He’s very special, I’m thrilled to bits with him.”
Crowley, the reigning British champion jockey, added: “He’s the real deal. When he won his maiden, he was only getting going at the winning line and it was the same today.
“He only hit top gear as he went past the line.”
“He’s got a great mind this horse and my only worry coming into this race was if he had enough toe for this race as he might want a bit further and there’s no question he’ll stay further but he has enough boot to win a race like that.
“I think he’d have won wherever he was on the track. I knew I’d got a good tow off Rivet as I knew he’d go forward and what I like about him is that I was first out of the stalls [and] I was able to take him back.”
