Dubai Racing Carnival- third day

today is the third day of the Dubai Racing Carnival at Meydan and has the best card so far, with 3 highlights- the UAE 1000 Guineas at 16.40 CET, the Group Three Shindagha Sprint over 6 furlongs at 17.55 and the al Maktoum Challenge round 3 over 1900 metres at 19.10, a major trial for the World Cup; these 3 races are all run on the tapeta track. The last-named event is only a Group Three but the field is worthy of a Group One, and indeed 5 of the 9 runners have already won at that level. The likeliest winners are Gitano Hernando (Marco Botti/ Weichong Marwing), a very smart performer on artificial surfaces and last time out 4th in the Champion Stakes, South African Bold Silvano (Mike de Kock/ Christophe Soumillon), one of his powerful stable´s main hopes for World Cup Day, and Al Shemali (Ali al Raihe/ Royston Ffrench), who won the Dubai Duty Free last year.

The sprint is not quite as strong, and should mainly concern Our Giant (de Kock/ Soumillon), who won the trial for this, and the runner-up from that race Inxile (David and Adrian Nicholls), with Dohasa (Ibrahim Mohammed/ Ryan Moore) the main danger.

The 8 runners for the 1,000 Guineas include 7 of the field from the trial, which was win by Reem (de Kock/ Pat Cosgrave) from stable companion Mahbooba (Christoph Lemaire), with Abtasaamah (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) third, Chocolicious (Herman Brown/ Moore) 4th and Empire Rose (de Kock/ Kevin Shea) 5th. The weights favoured Reem that day and the result may be turned around this time.

Once again the day is likely to be dominated by the Godolphin and de Kock stables. Godolphin can take the classic trial over 7 furlongs at 16.00 with Roayh (bin Suroor/ Dettori) and hold an especially strong hand in the 1 1/2 mile handicap at 17.15, where they have 5 of the 9 runners, including top-weight Buzzword (Mahmoud al Zarooni/ Ahmed Atjebi), who won the German Derby last July. Ex-German Peligroso (Ted Durcan) also runs here, but we prefer Star Empire (de Kock/ Soumillon), who looks the danger to the Godolphin team.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Kandar Du Falgas (A) - Paris Gagner (A) - Santhal (A)
2. Race: Roayh - Krypton Factor - Energia Carioca
3. Race: Mahbooba - Chocolicious - Reem
4. Race: Star Empire - La De Two - Telluride
5. Race: Our Giant - Mutheeb - Inxile
6. Race: Colonial - Solid Choice - Tybalt
7. Race: Bold Silvano - Gitano Hernando - Al Shemali
8. Race: Here To Win - Haatheq - Kidnapped