Take The Points is in competitive form

Newmarket  : England But for running erratically on his most recent start, Todd Pletcher's Dubai World Cup hope Take The Points would come to Dubai as a winner of three North American Grade One events. As things stand, the grey colt has two wins at the top level, though he was clearly the best horse also when going for a third in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) in Florida last month.

Take the Points, ridden by Edgar Prado, was making his first start of the year and looked better than ever. Unfortunately, he also failed to maintain a straight line at the finish, and hampered one of his five rivals quite badly. US racing rules are strict and a disqualification was inevitable. Victory thus fell to Court Vision, who had passed the post one-and-a-half lengths behind Take the Points.

Pletcher, one of the leading trainers in the US, must have had mixed feelings about the race — though the good news was that his four-year-old had produced a high-class performance after a long break. Take the Points had not raced since finishing seventh to The Usual Q.T. (a Duty Free contender) in the Hollywood Derby (G1) in November. He was well fancied for that event, as he had landed the Secretariat Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park in Chicago and the Jamaica Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park in New York on his two previous starts. The verdict was just a head on both occasions.