Dubai Carnival beads: High five for Godolphin, 200 for bin Suroor
January 31st, 2017
The spoils were fairly divided between the Godolphin trainers. Saeed bin Suroor scored in the two co-features, thereby reaching a milestone 200 Carnival wins, and colleague Charlie Appleby rang up a triple on the card.
Bin Suroor’s double opened with Promising Run, who made history by becoming the first female to capture the Al Rashidiya (G2). Her placement here was intriguing, since the co-featured Cape Verdi (G2), in her own division, would have appeared a natural target. But her stablemate Very Special (pictured) was bound for a title defense in the Cape Verdi, where she was clearly favored to repeat.
Perhaps bin Suroor believed the added ground of the Al Rashidiya (about nine furlongs as opposed to the Cape Verdi’s metric mile) was more suitable for Promising Run. But it’s also worth noting that the Al Rashidiya wasn’t the deepest renewal ever, and with her six-pound weight break from the boys, Promising Run was in with a proper chance. Very Special presumably will get her shot versus males later in the Carnival (as in 2016), leaving this opportunity to Promising Run, and she grasped it with all four hooves.
Her cause was assisted by the fact that heavy favorite Light the Lights found himself on the early lead in a paceless race. Front-running tactics had never worked for him in the South African phase of his career. Unable to replicate his preferred stalk-and-pounce routine from the opening-night Singspiel, his successful Dubai debut for Mike de Kock, he was left vulnerable late.
To his credit, Light the Lights tried hard to give de Kock an incredible sixth straight trophy in the Al Rashidiya (and ninth overall), but Promising Run was relentless. Sporting cheekpieces for the first time, the homebred daughter of Hard Spun and Brazilian Group 1 heroine Aviacion prevailed by a half-length.
“She was a little bit slowly away,” jockey Jim Crowley told Godolphin.com, “and there wasn’t much pace on, but I kicked turning in and she wore the runner-up down nicely.
“I thought that I was going to win turning in. She may have pulled up a fraction when she got to the front, but at least there was a little left in the tank.”
“It was an excellent performance by Promising Run,” bin Suroor said. “There is no plan for her at the moment but we will look to the future and not rush her.”
This was Promising Run’s strongest effort since her victory in the Rockfel (G2) as a juvenile. She tried dirt here last season, but had to settle for best-of-the-rest behind the dazzling Polar River. Third to the highly regarded So Mi Dar in the Musidora (G3) and fifth in the Coronation (G1) at Royal Ascot last summer, she didn’t have any success at three until venturing to Veliefendi for the Istanbul Trophy (G3), and even then she had to work hard to see off the locals. Off this evidence, her four-year-old campaign should turn out much better.
A Very Special change in tactics: Very Special responded in kind with a history-making success of her own in the Cape Verdi, becoming the race’s first two-time winner, and giving bin Suroor number 200. The only surprising aspect to her repeat was her tactical switch. Unlike last Carnival, when she crushed the Cape Verdi and Balanchine (G2) in wire-to-wire fashion, Very Special this time was cajoled into tracking early.
Once again, a de Kock runner attempted to make the running. His Argentine recruit Tahanee decided to press forward from her far outside post 10, but didn’t fare as well as Light the Lights, and ultimately got outkicked in fifth.
Very Special, drawn on the fence, had to arrest momentum when angling out for the drive. For a mare of high cruising speed who winds up, that wasn’t an ideal set-up. It was therefore all the more impressive that she was still able to top the cavalry charge to the line over British shippers Opal Tiara (who had to maneuver for a seam) and Muffri’ha (whose three-race win streak included a score over males in the Darley [G3]).
ADVERTISEMENT
