Island Falcon swoops to conquer in Jumeirah Derby Trial

Improving three-year-old Island Falcon took another step forward in his burgeoning career with a comfortable success over New Kingdom in the Jumeirah Derby Trial at Meydan, UAE, on Friday, 21 January.

The Iffraaj colt had shown good progression in two juvenile appearances for Saeed bin Suroor, ending his season with a battling success in the same Nottingham maiden won by Adayar in 2020.

Held up in mid-division by Frankie Dettori, Island Falcon quickened well after being angled out at the top of the straight and moved up with New Kingdom to press Pjerrot for the lead entering the final furlong.

Island Falcon took up the running with over half a furlong to race and hit the line strongly to prevail by a length and a quarter in the nine-furlong turf contest.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “Island Falcon has improved since last year and is a nice colt, who always shows some class in the mornings. Tonight’s trip suited him much better and I told Frankie beforehand to keep the horse happy and relaxed through the race. He showed a good turn of foot at the end and will improve for this race.

“We might look at something over a mile and a quarter for him now. We are very happy with the new turf programme for three-year-olds this year and we have a selection of horses to run over different trips, which is much better for us.”