Dubai Carnival beads: Unleashing the Safety

After Godolphin’s Safety Check stormed the Al Fahidi Fort (G2) for the second straight year, once again in course-record time, trainer Charlie Appleby summed it up best:

“He just loves it in Dubai.”

Safety Check whizzes around as if he were created specifically with about seven furlongs on the Meydan turf in mind. In other words, he’s tailor made for the Al Fahidi Fort (or it’s tailor made for him). And he even gets away with a little longer in the Zabeel Mile (G2), which he won in 2015 and has in his sights next on February 25.

But Safety Check’s distance requirements leave him without a natural home on Dubai World Cup night. Hence Appleby is mulling a possible switch to dirt.

"There is not too much for him on turf at the Carnival after that (the Zabeel) and I don't know whether we might drop him back in trip, try further or have a spin on the dirt,” Appleby told godolphin.com.

"He trains well on dirt at home and you can see the same turn of foot as he has on turf. We will get the Zabeel Mile out of the way first and then see where we are."

Being by Dubawi, Safety Check may be able to handle dirt, despite the fact that his maternal half is turf dominant. Perhaps the likeliest gamble on World Cup night would be the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1). Given the frenetic pace in the dirt sprint, he would get the kind of set-up he needs. Still, there must be a scruple about what tactics he’ll adopt: if he drops farther back early, he could find it difficult to get involved on a Meydan main track that tends to privilege tactical speed.

His realistic turf options on World Cup night would either be the mad dash of the Al Quoz Sprint (G1), where he wouldn’t get a turn against five-furlong straight course beasts, or the Dubai Turf (formerly Duty Free) (G1) at about nine furlongs. The latter must stretch him a bit too far, especially against such ferocious invaders as defending champion Solow and possibly Japan’s Horse of the Year Maurice.

“I have always been confident that he is a force to be reckoned with on a turning track and good ground,” Appleby observed.

Maybe the Godolphin brain trust should circle the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita – about 6 1/2 down the hill strikes me as just right.

Wild about Harry: The placegetters in the Al Fahidi Fort also emerged with great credit. Runner-up Harry’s Son stayed on strongly in his first start since making the arduous trek from South Africa, while Mastermind was positively heroic to save third after chasing Ghaamer’s unsustainable pace. Taking the baton from the spent leader in the stretch, Mastermind was entitled to collapse as badly as Ghaamer did. Yet despite an 11-month absence, the Mike de Kock pupil held on gamely for third.

The Paul Lafferty-trained Harry’s Son was himself out of action for nearly 10 months, since his subpar fifth in the S A Classic. The lone unplaced effort of his career, it can be genuinely chalked up to rain-softened ground.

Aside from possible ring-rustiness here, Harry’s Son also needs further than the Al Fahidi Fort’s trip. Even at two, he required a metric mile to earn his first stakes victory, a divisional championship clincher in the 2014 Premiers Champion (G1). At three, he added the Gauteng Guineas (G2) and took second in the Cape Guineas (G1). Both on pedigree (as a son of Haradasun), and by the way he kept on stolidly Thursday – simply beaten for speed – the Australian-bred is eligible to prosper over the Dubai Turf distance. Unlike his S A Classic debacle, he’ll get his prerequisite good turf.

Wondering about his class for international competition? Note that assistant trainer Roy Waugh put Harry's Son in the same category as 1986 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Skywalker, whom he handled as an assistant to Michael Whittingham.

 

Fighter jets to track record: Every Carnival, there’s a progressive type who runs himself into the Dubai World Cup (G1) picture, and this year’s model is Special Fighter. Trained by Musabah al Muhairi, the son of Teofilo put up a career best when running away with the December 17 Entisar over the World Cup distance. A sharp cutback to a mile for the January 7 Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (G2) was never going to suit him, so he wasn’t disgraced when a closing sixth. Back up to something nearer his wheelhouse in an about 1 3/16-mile handicap, Special Fighter crushed them by five lengths in track-record time. He’ll need to prove himself in a higher grade, but just look at how well he moves over this track. Special Fighter really gets his nose down, reaches out, and takes off on this surface, and that’s half the battle.

Conversely, Godolphin hotpot Let’s Go didn’t appear comfortable, winding up fifth of six in his first dirt attempt. To be fair, the Street Cry gelding was rank early, and he’d have been better served to stride on, and use his natural speed, rather than being wrangled back. Still, his action wasn’t the same as on the British all-weather. Maybe with a second chance, and more forward tactics, he’ll cope better. But the flop of Let’s Go raises an inevitable question about familiar rival Tryster, Godolphin’s all-weather star who will also switch to dirt this Carnival. Will Tryster – a deep closer with a sometimes quizzical head carriage – adapt?