UAE 2000 Guineas assault led by Gold Town

Gold Town spearheads a trio of Godolphin three-year-olds in the G3 UAE 2,000 Guineas on dirt, the highlight of the first of two Dubai World Cup Carnival fixtures this week at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 15 February.

The son of Street Cry, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, steps up to a mile after having powered to an impressive victory on his dirt debut in one of two seven-furlong trials for the Classic on 25 January.

Racing Country (Saeed bin Suroor/Pat Cosgrave) stayed on strongly to go down by half a length to El Chapo in the other trial on the same card and the Dubawi colt returns to dirt after finishing down the field on turf in the Meydan Classic Trial over seven furlongs at Meydan on 8 February.

Last Voyage (Charlie Appleby/Mickael Barzalona), a son of Eskendereya, makes his first appearance of 2018 following three outings in the UK last season, including a debut success over five furlongs on turf at Windsor and a close fourth in a seven-furlong Polytrack contest at Kempton Park.

Charlie Appleby said: “We were impressed with Gold Town’s first appearance on dirt in the trial and I am hopeful that the step up to a mile will suit. A repeat performance of his last run will see him take all the beating.

“Last Voyage won on his first start and brings a decent level of European form to the table. He should be fine on the dirt based on his pedigree and his preparation has gone well. This is his first try over a mile, which we feel should suit him.”

Saeed bin Suroor commented: “Racing Country was disappointing on the turf last time, but he is back on the dirt now and ran well on the surface in the trial for this race. I think a mile will be right him and he is in good form.”

The field of 15 for the UAE 2,000 Guineas includes El Chapo, plus Roland Rocks and Roy Orbison, who were second and third behind Gold Town last time out.

Saeed bin Suroor is responsible for Godolphin’s seven other runners on Thursday’s card including German G1 runner-up Best Solution (Pat Cosgrave) and last year’s G2 Dubai City Of Gold Sponsored by Emirates SkyCargo sixth Memorial Day (Gerald Mosse), who both go for the six-runner 12-furlong turf handicap.

Natural Scenery (Christophe Soumillon) and Red Galileo (Gerald Mosse), who were third and fourth over 14 furlongs at Meydan on 25 January, re-oppose in the only turf handicap at the Dubai World Cup Carnival to be run over the marathon trip of two miles.

Alabaster (Oisin Murphy) has finished third on the dirt at Meydan on his four latest starts, including last season’s G3 Burj Nahaar Sponsored by Emirates Holidays, and the six-year-old lines up in the seven-strong 10-furlong dirt handicap alongside recent course and distance scorer Don’t Give Up (Christophe Soumillon).

Kananee (Christophe Soumillon), drawn 12, runs in the six-furlong handicap on turf after having his first outing for 15 months in a similar race in January. He won on four of his five starts as a two-year-old and was a late withdrawal at last week’s Dubai World Cup Carnival fixture.