Dubai: Godolphin jockey William Buick is hoping that the Charlie Appleby-trained Boynton can produce something special in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge (Group 1) at Meydan on Super Saturday in order to secure a spot in this year’s Dubai World Cup (G1) on March 31.
Buick, who won the 2015 Dubai World Cup on Prince Bishop, did not have a ride in the $10 million contest last year, but is banking on the four-year-old gelding, who was a cosy winner of the 1,600-metre Mina Rashid Handicap on his most recent start.
“He was a nice win over the mile on dirt a month or so back,” said the 29-year-old Norwegian-born jockey on the sidelines of a Godolphin sports range launch at the Under Armour store in Dubai Mall on Wednesday.
“But he’s going to have to prove he can stay in the trip, and will probably have to win or go very close on Super Saturday to earn a place in the World Cup.
“It’s going to be a pretty tough race this year,” he added of the World Cup. “The American horses are coming over. Bob Baffert is sending over a couple of horses that are pretty good, I think West Coast is a pretty solid horse.”
Of his own chances on Boynton, a 16/1 shot on the international betting markets, he said: “We’ll have to get Super Saturday out of the way first and just see how he gets on.
“It’s no different,” he said of his approach to a day that is essentially a dress rehearsal for the Dubai World Cup meeting in three weeks time. “It’s an important race day, every race day is important for various reasons but we go out with the aim to win every race we’ve entered in, and that makes every race important.
“I’ll approach Saturday, the World Cup or a wet Monday at Windsor in a similar way. Of course, the bigger the race day the more coverage you get and whatever else, but in professional sport you take it as what it is.”
Buick has five other bookings on Super Saturday, including a peach of a ride on Solario Stakes (G1) scorer Masar in the Al Bastakiya, Comicas in the Mahab Al Shimaal (G3), Jungle Cat in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, Folkswood in the Jebel Hatta (G1) and Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Hawkbill in the Dubai City of Gold (G2).
“All of them have realistic chances and their presence will be felt,” he said.
Fellow Godolphin jockeys, James Doyle and Mikel Barzalona, were also at the Under Armour event and ran the rule over their best rides for Super Saturday.
Barzalona, who won the 2012 Dubai World Cup on Monterosso, singled out Heavy Metal as his best chance despite a bad draw in the Group 3 1,600-metre Burj Naha on dirt.
“He’s being aimed at the Godolphin Mile on World Cup night and I’m sure he’s going to run a good race on Saturday,” he said.
“He’s already had two wins on the dirt here and he looks to be in good condition. We have a bad draw in the gate (13 of 13), but he’s very fast so we’ll see and hope he gets a good position.
“We’re not going to do anything stupid to make him tired for World Cup night, so we are going to try and do as usual and if it doesn’t happen we’re going to save energy for World Cup night.”
Meanwhile, Doyle named the Appleby-trained Baccarat, who runs in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, as his best Super Saturday hope.
“I just hope he has the speed to take on Ertijaal because he’ll be fairly dangerous if he takes a soft lead,” he said.
“It will either be between Baccarat or Buick’s Jungle Cat for the Al Quoz Sprint on Dubai World Cup night, so whoever runs well on Saturday. That will probably be one of my only rides on World Cup night, but you never know, we’re still a fair way out, so, hopefully, something else might turn up. “It’s very difficult for rides, there’s not many international runners out here, but I’m picking up what William hasn’t chosen and he’s had some tough decisions this week.”
