Early start at Meydan

the Dubai World Cup Carnival continues with racing today and tomorrow at Meydan. There is an early start today, with the first race, handicap over 1 mile 3 furlongs on tapeta, off at 12.00 CET. An interesting runner here is ex-German Lyssio (Mike Attwater/ Jack Doyle), who ran on well when runner-up over this CD a fortnight ago. A repetition of that form would certainly give him a chance today, and the three Godolphin runners, with Frankie Dettori on Club Oceanic, probably the main dangers. Once again Godolphin and Mike de Kock look set to dominate proceedings, but there are no Godolphin runners in the main feature, the Group Two Cape Verdi over one mile for fillies on turf at 14.20, in which de Kock could well take the first two places with Mahbooba (Christophe Soumillon) and Reem (Kevin Shea), who were 1-2 here last year in the UAE 1,000 Guineas. Mahbooba won that race and should come out on top again today. Royal Ascot winner Rhythm of Light (Tom Dascombe/ Kieren Fallon) , runner-up to the smart German filly Vanjura in Turkey last September, could also finish in the money.

De Kock can also take the 9 furlongs handicap at 13.10 with Mutahadee (Soumillon) or Viscount Nelson (Shea), while Godolphin can counter with Prince Bishop (Dettori) and Spring of Fame (Barzalona) over 10 furlongs at 13.35.

There is also flat racing on the all-weather at Lingfield this afternoon and Wolverhampton and Dundalk this evening. Obviously all these races are at a much lower lveel than the events in Dubai, but we like the chances of Canadian Danehill (Robert Cowell/ Jake Payne) in the 5 furlongs handicap at 17.55 at Wolverhampton, and also of German-bred Prince of Fire (Charlie Swan/ David Casey) in the 1 1/2 miles maiden at 21.50 at Dundalk. The latter is very lightly raced on the flat, but ran well here 2 weeks ago and is also a winner both over hurdles and over fences.