Thursday at Meydan

The Dubai Racing Carnival goes into its third day on Thursday at Meydan with 7 highly competitive races. The meting so far has been dominated, aa is usually the case by Mike de Kock and Godolphin, and that should be the case again today as they have fancied runners in almost every race. The main feature is the Group Two Al Rashidiya over 9 furlongs on turf at 19.45 CET. Godolphin have 3 runners here, including Frozen Power (Mikael Barzalona), winner of the German 2,000 Guineas last year. However he has been a big diappointment since and it is easy to prefer de Kock´s Irish Game (Kevin Shea, 2nd of 20 in a South African Group One in July. Presvis (Luca Cumani/ Ryan Moore) is the obvious danger, but his main targets are later in the meeting and he may not yet be fully wound up.Godolphin´s best chance could be in the conditions race on tapeta at 19.10, where they have 5 runners including record-priced yearling Jalil (Mahmoud al Zarooni/ Ahmed Ajtebi); but here again we prefer d e Kock´ s runner Mr. Brock (Shea), who ran well enough here a fortnight ago. Another one who ran well that day was the ex-German Win for Sure and he may be able to live up to his name in the mile handicap on turf at 20.25.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Reynaldothewizard - Golden Sword - Final Drive
2. Race: Clearly Silver - Montmorency - Mariol
3. Race: Halicarnassus - Burdlaz - King Of Rome
4. Race: Opinion Poll - Age Of Reason - Whispering Gallery
5. Race: Mr Brock - Wealthy - Bronze Cannon
6. Race: Irish Flame - Presvis - Caymans
7. Race: Hujaylea - Win For Sure - Royal Revival