To describe three Group One races as the undercard almost feels like a contradiction in terms but that is the strength in depth of the Dubai World Cup card.
The Sheema Classic looks an open race, to the point where the market looks more in keeping with a handicap, with Cavalryman and Spanish Moon the likely favourites, but this race could be set up for a surprise.
European runners and the horse Buena Vista may dominate the betting but it may be the American entry Presious Passion who can win if he is allowed to dominate the early pace. Presious Passion is hardly a tactical mystery; load him into the stalls, point, shoot and just hope that he holds on.
However, that simple plan so nearly came off at Santa Anita when Presious Passion was just a half-length off winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf, only succumbing to the late surge of Conduit in the last 50 yards. If this field allows him an uncontested lead he could prove hard to reel in on a track that has appeared to favour those close to the pace.
It was similar tactics that worked for Gladiatorus in the Duty Free, when Presvis made giant strides in the home straight to chase him all the way to the line. Presvis is the market leader for this year’s renewal but being drawn 15 of 16 means that he is going to have to thread his way through the field and Christophe Lemaire will just have to hope that everything falls his way.
If the race was being run at Sha Tin, then Good Ba Ba would probably be favourite. However, he has run very badly on his two attempts away from Hong Kong - both, like Meydan, on a left-handed track – so there has to be a doubt over whether he can deliver his true running.
By comparison, Alexandros is pretty straightforward. He was two lengths behind Presvis in last year’s Duty Free and one-and-a-half lengths adrift at Meydan’s Super Thursday meeting three weeks ago but looks likely to in the right place at the right time, leaving Frankie Dettori to choose his moment to attack.
The Golden Shaheen had been a banker for American stables when it was run on the dirt at Nad Al Sheba but the switch to Meydan, and the synthetic Tapeta surface, has titled the balance of power a little and Rocket Man, trained in Singapore by Patrick Shaw, has been beaten once in nine career starts.
That was a neck defeat as a three-year-old to the world’s best sprinter, Sacred Kingdom in last year’s KrisFlyer Sprint, which makes him the pick here.
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