TM Fred Texas can win Kahayla Classic again

TM Fred Texas got me off to a great start last year, when I took a shot at the Qatari runner and he obliged at a big price.

I will go with him again, simply because I believe he is a touch above the others. He has been beaten in his two most recent races at home, but the first was over 2,400 metres after a near five-month break and the second came over 1,800 metres on the dirt track in Doha, a surface that rides quite differently to Meydan’s Tapeta footing.

Last year, TM Fred Texas beat Seraphin Du Paon readily by one-and-three-quarter lengths, with Versac PY back in fourth place and Nieshan fifth. The latter two go into today’s race in sharp form, having run second and first respectively in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 on Super Saturday, and they hold obvious claims.

Naseem stayed on well for third on Super Saturday and he would be better suited by a stronger pace, something he might get in the Kahayla Classic. Perhaps he will come out on top this time.

— Geir Stabell is the publishing editor of Newmarket-based Globeform.