Dubai: Carnival heavyweights Godolphin and Mike de Kock have wasted no time to lay down a pivotal marker for their prospective rivals to follow given their strong showing on the opening day’s action at Meydan last Thursday.
It has been well documented that this year’s Carnival promises greater depth, not just in terms of quality of horse, but in class of competition as well. That conviction has seen a major spike in interest in the international horses that are currently based in Dubai.
However, both Godolphin’s Saeed Bin Surour and Charlie Appleby, together with arch rival De Kock, have responded to any imminent threat that they might face when winning five of the seven races on the card — which is an overwhelming start to their campaigns.
This alone is a major boost for their respective yards who must be delighted that all the hard work that has been put in has become a reality.
I for one am happy to see them resume their rivalry, which makes for great entertainment, while it is also pleasing to see some of their would-be stars discover their form early.
Shuruq’s victory in the opening round of the Al Maktoum Challenge was pretty enjoyable and she reminded me of another of Bin Surour’s stars of last season — the brilliant Sajjhaa. Who can forget the amazing season that she had last year, winning four races at Meydan including the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on Dubai World Cup night.
Given time, I would like to believe, or hope, that Shuruq can go on to emulate her stable companion. It’s a lot to ask of a horse that is still somewhat a baby (she’s only had ten runs), but their was so much to like about the attitude she displayed when pitted against the colts.
And let’s not forget she narrowly missed breaking the race record set by Musir two years ago. Admittedly the all-weather was always likely to produced fast times following the overnight showers, but even so Shuruq’s timing was only a fraction of a second slower than that of Musir.
You have got to like stats like that, and if Bin Surour says that his filly was only 80 per cent ready, and still open to improvement, then there’s a lot to look forward to from her over the coming months. She is scheduled to make her next start in the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge series, which will be run over an extra furlong, and that distance must also be to her advantage, given the fact that she was finishing Thursday’s race full of running.
I don’t want to jump to conclusions, it’s still too early in the season, but you can’t help thinking that she has the potential to become the first horse to sweep all three legs of the Al Maktoum Challenge. Bin Surour did not want to be drawn into a discussion related to that prognosis preferring to suggest that he wanted to take it one race at a time and that the second round will give him a better clue about her ability to compete at the highest level.
If she stays healthy, and improves further, we might well see more of her over the next few weeks and who knows, perhaps even on Super Saturday and Dubai World Cup night.
