Newmarket, England: Two horses, possibly three, stand out in the Dubai Gold Cup field. The two obvious candidates are Brown Panther and Bathyrhon, while the possible upsetter is Almoonqith.

Not that seeing the latter win would come as a big shock to local racing fans, since he looked an exciting staying prospect when winning the Nad Al Sheba Trophy a month ago — a race he took by coming home with an excellent finish from off the pace.

Almoonqith beat Rio Tigre by one-and-a-half lengths that day, with his stable companion Star Empire back in third. This task means another step up in distance for Almoonqith, but his style of running indicates that he will stay 3,200 metres and may even improve over this trip.

Further improvement will be needed though if he is going to beat the two favourites. The English-trained Brown Panther gets my vote. An experienced and smart performer, he landed two of the best staying races in Europe last year, while he was also a close third in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot — a race contested over 4,000 metres.

Brown Panther’s best run to date was his six-and-a-half-length win in the Irish St Leger at The Curragh last autumn, when he was committed early and ran on strongly to humiliate two previous St. Leger winners — Leading Light, who had beaten him at Ascot, and Encke.

Bathyrhon is a contender flying different flags and will make as many as four nations proud if he wins. Bred in Germany, he is owned by Avaz Ismoilov from Uzbekistan and trained in France by Pia Brandt, a native of Sweden.

This five-year-old son of Monsun looks the main threat to Brown Panther. He ran some fine races at home last autumn and ended the year on a progressive note. After winning the Prix Gladiateur over 3,100 metres at Longchamp (from Kicky Blue and High Jinx), he took second in the Prix du Cadran over 4,000 metres at the same venue, this time going down by a neck to High Jinx, who made all the running and got first run on him in the straight.

Maxime Guyon, his partner in the Gladiateur, takes the mount again and this combination does look strong.

Dubday is an intriguing runner as he takes a step up in class following a bloodless win in a valuable contest over 2,400 metres last time out.

— The author is the editor of Newmarket-based independent racing and handicapping publication globeform.co.uk