Siege ready to continue Suroor's racing domination

Siege, who narrowly missed winning the Maktoum Challenge crown last year, can continue Saeed bin Suroor's domination of the featured races when he makes his seasonal debut in a 90-110 handicap sponsored by Coolmore Stud at Nad Al Sheba this evening.

The Indian Ridge five-year-old won the first leg and finished fourth in the second leg before taking eighth place behind Conflict in the Godolphin Mile (Listed) on March 25. Subsequently he was a spirited third behind Arkadian Hero and Cape Town in his only UK start last season at Newbury on August 18.

Suroor reports he is training well since his return to Dubai. "Siege is a nice horse who has had his share of problems," said Suroor. "He has settled in well and is putting in some good work. We expect he will run a good race on Sunday."

The small four-horse field contesting today's mile and one contest includes two former Godolphin horses, Grazalema and Buy Or Sell, and Ghantoot's River Times. Grazalema, who finished 11th behind Sendawar in the 1999 French Derby won the Al Fahidi Fort (Prestige) last February in Dubai.

Having been switched to Erwan Charpy's Green Stables the Storm Bird five-year-old looked a trifle rusty in his seasonal debut at Abu Dhabi where he was a close fourth to Superiority. He, however, will improve for the effort and should take second place behind Siege.

Buy Or Sell won a conditions race at Nad Al Sheba last March when trained by Suroor, but has disappointed in two starts for Satish Seemar this season. In his first he was sixth behind Jila before taking fourth place behind Glad Master one week back.

Given the lack of depth in the field Siege should score easily for John Carroll en route to a bigger target for the second half of the UAE racing season. The Listed Bani Yas sprint for Purebred Arabians which is sponsored by Byrne Equipment Rental looks to be at the mercy of Seemar's ultra-consistent Mushaagib, a two race winner this season.

Six horses accept including Charpy's Hafid du Bac, Kiaran McLaughlin's Iska Al Mels and Mazin Al Kurdi's game champion Mufaq. Rated an impressive 122 Mushaagib appears to be in a different class to his five rivals and should give chazmpion jockey Ted Durcan no cause for concern.

Proud Irishman can help boost trainer Dhruba Selvaratnam's comeback bid by winning a 0-95 sprint sponsored by Kildangan Stud. But the Irish Open six-year-old will have to be at his best to see off the challenge from some of the UAE's leading sprinters including Kabalevsky, Countless, Caballero and Abreeze.