Consistent On The Warpath gains Meydan victory

On The Warpath capitalised on a return to seven furlongs when gaining victory over Mubtasim to provide Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby a 1-2 in the turf handicap at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 28 February.

Four-year-old On The Warpath (William Buick) was smartly into his stride and raced in a close fourth on the outside as Victory Wave (Saeed bin Suroor/Christophe Soumillon) set a strong pace at the head of the 14-strong field, with Mubtasim (James Doyle) settling in third on the inside rail.

On The Warpath, twice placed in turf handicaps over a mile at Meydan earlier in the Carnival, was niggled along turning for home and quickened well to hold every chance along with Mubtasim and Wasim as the trio went clear of Victory Wave approaching the final furlong.

Mubtasim went to the front only for On The Warpath to come through and assert in the closing stages for a length victory in 1m 23.52s, with the same margin back to Wasim.

Charlie Appleby, celebrating a double on the night of this latest Dubai World Cup Carnival programme, commented: “We have dropped On The Warpath back to seven furlongs tonight, but it was a bit surprising to see him come under the pump sooner than I expected.

“To be fair to the horse, he has toughed it out and hit the line strongly.

“I thought that this trip was going to suit as it looked like he never saw it out over a mile. He was up on the lead on both his starts over a mile before being nabbed late on.

“We knew that there would be pace in the race tonight with Mubtasim running. William was always going to have On The Warpath in the box seat and give him something to aim at.

“Mubtasim has produced two solid runs at Meydan now and I liked his run style tonight – they have gone a good gallop, but he has settled into it well and found when he needed to. He is a horse who we can hopefully have a bit of fun with over the summer.

“Both horses will start their quarantine tomorrow and then head back to the UK in a month’s time.”

William Buick reported: “On The Warpath has run well on all three of his Carnival starts.

“He travelled very well over a mile twice, when he possibly didn’t quite get home, and the drop back in trip was the key tonight.

“He fought really well. They went a good gallop and On The Warpath was always doing enough – I didn’t mind it when he came off the bridle slightly as he was always keeping tabs on the leaders. I was always pretty happy.

“On The Warpath is most effective over seven furlongs and both he and Mubtasim are nice horses who have run well on all of their starts out here.”