Rest of Meydan

The rest of the Meydan card is also extremely high class, and with the fantastic prize-money on offer, it is no surprise that there are maximum fields in most races. The exception is the Golden Shaheen, a Group One on tapeta over 6 furlongs at 16.05 CET, with only 10 runners. Kinsale King (Carl O´Callaghan/ Rafael Bejarano) won this last year from Rocket Man (Patrick Shaw/ Felix Coetzee) but we reckon that the latter, regarded as the best horse ever trained in Singapore, can take his revenge today. Star US trainer Bob Baffert is very cautious with his overseas runners and his Euroears (Mike Smith) also comes into the reckoning.

The other sprint race, the Al Quoz over 5 furlongs on turf at 14.15, has 16 runners and looks open, but it would be nice to see German-owned War Artist (Rodolphe Collet/ Olivier Peslier), winner of the Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden in 2009, run well. The clear favourite here is JJ the Jet Plane (Lucky Houdalakis/ Bernard Fayd´Herbe), who won easily last time despite hanging all over the track. Earlier he had defeated Rocket Man in the Hong Kong Sprint, the best form in the race.

Premio Loco (Chris Wall/ George Baker) is our choice for the Godolphin Mile at 14.50. He won at Baden-Baden and Cologne two years ago and has improved further since. His main opponents should be Imbongi (Mike de Kock/ Christophe Soumillon), Red Jazz (Barry and Michael Hills) and especially the Godolphin runner Skysurfers (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori), whose outside draw however could be a problem. The 3yo fillies running here appear to be superior to the colts and a win for the so-called weaker sex looks likely in the UAE Derby at 15.25. Mahbooba (de Kock/ Soumillon) and Khawlah (bin Suroor/ Barzalona) have the best chances; Dettori who cannot do the weight on the latter, rides the ex-Brazilian Xin Xu Lin, who is very much an unknown quantity.

The European runners are expected to do well at this meeting and the two races in which they probably have the best chances are both on turf - the Dubai Duty Free over 9 furlongs at 16.45 and the Dubai Sheema Classic over 1 1/2 miles at 17.50. Wigmore Hall (Michael Bell/ Jamie Spencer) is our selection for the former event; he may have most to fear from River Jetez (de Kock/ Fayd´Herbe) and Presvis (Luca Cumani/ Ryan Moore), although the latter´s come- from- behind manner of racing is likely to create problems in this large field. Rookie trainer Roger Varian can get his career off to a dream start when he saddles his first runner Laheeb (Richard Hills) in th hema Classic; he only took over the yard of Michael Jarvis, who has announced his retirement because of ill-health, a few days ago. Rewilding (al Zarooni/ Dettori) looks best of the Godolphin runners, while Dangerous Midge (Brian Meehan/ Martin Dwyer) and Redwood (Barry and Michael Hills) are others with chances in what is probably the most open race of the meeting.

Betting forecast:
2. Race: J J The Jet Plane - War Artist - Mr Gruff
3. Race: Skysurfers - Red Jazz - Zafeen Speed
4. Race: Xin Xu Lin - Mahbooba - Khawlah
5. Race: Rocket Man - Kinsale King - Euroears
6. Race: Presvis - Better Than Ever - Wigmore Hall
7. Race: Rulership - Deem - Rewilding
8. Race: Musir - Twice Over - Cape Blanco