Marco Botti hopes going will suit Moohaajim in Guineas

Dubai: Newmarket trainer Marco Botti is hoping that the ground at Newmarket will come up good this weekend as he prepares to give his prospective stable star Moohaajim a shot at the English 2,000 Guineas (G1).

The son of Cape Cross has long been perceived as a Classic hope by his Italian handler, a view that Botti has firmly stood by despite Moohaajim’s defeat to Olympic Glory in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury last month.

“We were hoping to win the Greenham last time but I wasn’t too disappointed because the ground was on the dead side, which didn’t suit him,” Botti said on his website.

“We were on the stands side, which was where the worst ground was. He travelled like the winner for a long way but couldn’t find the extra gear on the ground.

“He’s done well since the race and I hope the ground is good for the Guineas.

“The thing that really pleased me at Newbury was that he was much more relaxed than last season, when he could get on his toes. The Newbury race has relaxed him and he’s training well.”

Moohaajim will run in the colours of popular UAE owner Shaikh Mohammad Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, who has won major races in Dubai, South Africa, Singapore and Turkey, but is yet to hit the mark in the UK.

A top-class two-year-old last season, when he won two of five starts including the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury in September, beating Master Of War by a length and three-quarters, Moohaajim appeared not to stay the seven furlongs trip of the Greenham.

However, Botti has kept his faith in the horse and told the Daily Mail: “We have to give him another chance. There is only one Guineas and if he doesn’t stay we can come back to six furlongs.”

Meanwhile, French ace Olivier Peslier is predicting that his Dubai Duty Free Stakes (G3) winner Maureen can be the surprise package in the English 1,000 Guineas on Sunday.

Peslier, who won the Guineas in 2007 with Cockney Rebel, said at Chantilly on Monday: “She’s got a lot of pace and she enjoys her racing. If the favourites aren’t quite at their best, she’s a filly who can cause a surprise. The fifth or sixth favourites in such a race always have a chance of winning.

“Mr Hannon is a great trainer and, if he’s running her, she must have a chance.”

Maureen is owned by Ahmad Al Khalafi, who is the Senior Director for Enterprise Sales & Business Solutions at du.

Clerk of the course Michael Prosser said the weather at Newmarket is expected to be largely dry until Thursday.