Mile dominated by Godolphin Stables

Dubai : The Godolphin Mile, a Group 2 race sponsored by etisalat, has been dominated by the Godolphin Stables and trainer Saeed Bin Surour will be looking for his ninth win in this mile's contest.

The list of entries for this race which has been now pushed to third on the eight-race card with the inclusion of the Al Quoz Sprint, seems to be strongly represented by Godolphin with Calming Influence, Desert Party and Skysurfers likely to start this $1 million (Dh3.67 million) race.

It was the Godolphin Mile which last year at Nad Al Sheba broke a two-year barren run on Dubai World Cup night for the Godolphin Stables when Two Step Salsa and Gayego completed a 1-2. In fact Bin Surour was the sixth different trainer to win this race in the last six runnings.

Brian Meehan's Cat Junior, Luca Cumani's Summit Surge, Mike de Kock's Lucky Find and Jeremy Noseda's Forgotten Voice are also in the fray while Doug Watson, Erwan Charpy and Abdullah Bin Huzaim are also represented.

Run as the Nad Al Sheba Mile and in listed status until 2000, the Godolphin Mile earned Group 3 status in 2001 and was then promoted to Group 2 in 2002. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin won this race with Lost Soldier both in 1994 and 1995 before it was moved to be part of the inaugural Dubai World Cup meeting in 1996.

Apart from Lost Soldier, Firebreak is the only other horse to win this race twice while this year's Godolphin Mile will see a new champion on the Tapeta at Meydan.