Meydan Thursday Preview Turf And Dirt

The first race on Thursday is the UAE 1000 Guineas over 1 mile on the Dirt and we have gone with the Charlie Appleby trained Divine Image for the Godolphin team.

This three year old filly out of Scat Daddy (two time winner on similar surface) made an incredible start to her career with a convincing six length victory at Chelmsford last month. By far the least experienced horse in the field but ultimately the freshest, if she can show the sort of potential she showed on debut then she’ll take all the beating.

She was bought for 360,000 Guineas as a two year old and will be looking to start paying off some of that investment with a smart run here.

The second race on Thursday is back on the Turf in the Meydan Classic over 7 furlongs and we have gone with Golden jaguar who is set to be ridden by Connor Beasley.

This Animal Kingdom colt, he won impressively at Jebel Ali over 5f three weeks ago and was always staying on. Now upped to 7f with this talented jockey doing the steering, he could well turn out to be great E/W value.

The three year old colt is very unexposed compared to the rest of the field and this could make all the difference if coming on for his first run.

The third race on Thursday is the Al Shindagha Sprint over 6 furlongs on the Dirt and we have gone with the Fawzi Abdulla Nass trained Nine Below Zero to take the spoils in this one

A consistent sort in England, his first race over todays C&D earlier this month saw a career best performance where he won by over three lengths. Upped 8lbs from that run he’s in a much deeper race but the smaller field will suit him.

He is making a huge jump in class but this four year old showed a lot of ability on his last run and can ran well at a nice price.

The next race on Thursday is the Mina Risha Dirt Handicap over 1 mile and we have gone with the Charlie Appleby trained Divine Image for the Godolphin team.

A two time winner here, he finished fourth in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge three weeks ago. Now 6lbs better off from that race in what looks to be a far weaker field, if the poor performance last time was solely down to rust then he will be hard to beat on his old form.

William Buick is back at Meydan and gets the ride on this top weighted gelding in what could be a good afternoon for the owners if this gamble goes in.

The penultimate race on Thursday is the Jazfa Handicap over 1 mile 2 furlongs on the turf and we have gone with the Mike De Kock trained Astronomer to win this one.

Really impressive as a 3yo in Ireland last year winning four races on the bounce, the Galileo colt came up just short at Newmarket at the end of last years flat season.

He’s now moved to Mike De Kock’s in form South African yard (four winners in the past two weeks) and we believe if he’s as good as a 4yo as he was a 3yo then he’ll be well in the mix.

The last race of the Thursday comes in the Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal Handicap over a mile on the Turf and we have chosen the Charlie Appleby trained On The Warpath.

A promising second over C&D three weeks ago, the Declaration Of War gelding is yet to get off the mark for Godolphin in his first three races for them.

However jockey William Buick has an impressive 33.33% strike when riding for Charlie Appleby and Appleby himself loves it at Meydan with a 26.92% strike rate there in the past year