Dubai: Dubai owners are mob-handed in the Group 2 bet365 Mile at Sandown Park on Friday where they account for four of the seven runners contesting a race that forms the centrepiece of a two-day meeting featuring both flat and jump races.
Team Godolphin are represented by a trio of runners headed by globetrotting star Toormoore, former Dubai Dewhurst Stakes (G1) sensation Belardo and up-and-comer Barchan.
Former champion handler Richard Hannon launches Toormore from his base at Wiltshire while Belardo and Barchan race out of Roger Varian’s Newmarket facility.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, bids to win the race for the second time after almost two decades with Aday, a dual Group race winner last season. He last saw his famous silks carried to victory by Willie Carson aboard Gabr in 1996.
Toormore won the Group 2 Lennox Stakes at Glorious Goodwood last summer prior to embarking on an international campaign that saw him race at France (twice), Hong Kong and Turkey, where he comfortably landed the Group 2 Topkapi Trophy at Viliefendi Racecourse in September.
Both Toormore and Beldaro picked up Group One victories as two-year-olds and are taken to be at the forefront of Friday’s contest where the latter appears to hold a slight advantage.
“Belardo is in great form. I have been more than happy with him since Doncaster and it looks like he will get conditions to suit him at Sandown,” Varian told the Godolphin website.
“He didn’t have a hard race at Doncaster and can only have come on for it. It was a nice start to the season and hopefully he can continue it on Friday.
“This is a better contest but he probably brings the best form to the table, with his two-year-old form and his second to Solow in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
“Barchan is likely to be ridden prominently. He is a good horse in his own right and is there on merit. If he can run a big race, we would be delighted.”
Commenting on Toormore’s chances Richard Hannon said: “Toormore is in good form. He switches on when he comes to the racecourse.
“He is likely to need the race badly and this is his prep for the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury (G1, Newbury, May 14).”
Dutch Connection, runner-up to Toormore at Goodwood, represents Charlie Hills while David Simcock’s Breton Rock and the Richard Fahey-trained Gabrial complete the field.
Last year’s winner Western Hymn will face six rivals in the Gordon Richards Stakes with the William Haggas-trained Our Channel also holding strong claims, having won three of his four starts on the all-weather.
Latest Odds
bet365 Mile
Belardo 6/5, Toormore 5/1, Adaay 11/2, Dutch Connection 6/1, Breton Rock 7/1, Gabrial 10/1, Barchan 100/1.
