Meydan today

another very strong and competitive card today at Meydan, and as usual we expect the powerful Godophin stables to play a leading role with South African trainer Mike de Kock their main rival. We prefer the Godolphin runners on the whole and certainly expect a Godolphin winner in the main feature, the Group Two Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 at 18.40 CET. Hunters Light (Saeed bin Suroor/ William Buick) won this last year, and also ran well in Munich, but of the trainer´s 3 runners, jockey bookings point to African Story (Silvestre de Sousa), with Artigiano (Charlie Appleby/ Mikael Barzalona) the main danger. Dunaden won the Melbourne Cup 2 years ago, but is unlikely to be speedy enough for this; please note that Harry Bentley now rides, as Jamie Spenser is in Ireland for a funeral. Ex-German Empire Storm (Mike Attwater/ Dane O´Neill) ran a great race here last time, but this looks too tough. We also expect Godolphin to win both the races for 3yo´s , the Classic Trial at 16.30 with Pretend and the UAE 1000 Guineas with either Wedding Ring (also Appleby/ Barzalona), who won the trial 3 weeks ago, or Ihtimaal (bin Suroor/ De Sousa), an impressive Kempton winner in November.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Versac Py - Albar Lotois - Rabbah De Carrere
2. Race: My Freedom - Alnashmy - Tamarkuz
3. Race: Figure Of Speech - Autumn Lily - Pretend
4. Race: Ihtimal - Mensoora - Magroora
5. Race: Excellent Result - Star Empire - Statutory
6. Race: Artigiano - Hunter`S Light - Battle Of Marengo
7. Race: El Estruendoso - Disa Leader - Gold Pearl