Ya Hayati strikes in Meydan Trophy

Improving three-year-old Ya Hayati looks set for a switch to dirt following a clear-cut success on his turf debut in the extended nine-furlong Meydan Trophy on week seven of the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan, UAE, Thursday, 13 February.

The Dubawi colt, a Polytrack maiden winner at Kempton Park, UK, in October for Charlie Appleby, was half a stride slow leaving the stalls but soon recovered to race freely in sixth of the 13 runners.

Ya Hayati was switched out leaving the back straight and moved up strongly to press for the lead on the bridle with two furlongs left.The Godolphin homebred, who is out of dual dirt G1 heroine Wedding Toast, kicked clear under William Buick soon after and stayed on strongly to score by a length over Timo Nurmos in a new course record of 1m 56.16s.

Charlie Appleby said: “I was very pleased with Ya Hayati. He has a dirt pedigree on his dam’s side but wasn’t quite sharp enough yet to run in the UAE 2,000 Guineas, when he would have probably been a bit slowly away and found it hard work.

“We brought him here to get another run under his belt and hopefully gain a bit more experience. We were pleased with the result but his homework had been good and he is going the right way.

“With his pedigree, it is always tempting to have a crack on dirt. Potentially, he might get an invite to the Saudi Derby over a mile (Saturday, 29 February) and we also have the Listed Al Bastakiya back here on Super Saturday (7 March) to think about.”

William Buick said: “It was a nice performance from Ya Hayati. He is dirt-bred on his dam’s side and had two experiences on the All-Weather in the UK but had been training well on turf.

“He was obviously a bit fresh and really took me on coming into the last turn. He wanted to get on with it really early and we got racing soon enough. He is an inexperienced horse and it was his first run back in a while, so this performance will stand him in good stead.”