Meydan Thursday Preview - 04/02/21

Meydan host another special card on Thursday and the first selection of the day from us comes in the Mina Rashid six furlong Handicap on the dirt,

Desert Doctor for trainer Ed Walker has been a highly consistent animal for the yard over the years, running to a good standard on the all weather in England.

He has also performed well in Meydan over the years, saving his best runs for this track and finished second in this exact race last year.

He has his first run of the year over course and distance two weeks ago and finished a nice second and now building off that performance makes him a player in this.

Next up is the first race on the turf on the day and it sees the 1m6f Listed Handicap and with Godolphin holding seven of the 10 entries it looks a difficult event to pick a winner.

However, we have sided with the Charlie Appleby trained Ghostwatch that we see as big value at 9/2 if finding the best of his form off this handicap mark.

The six year old son of Dubawi will need to be better than his last few runs but he runs here off the same handicap mark that saw him finish second of 13 runners over this course and distance in a similar event at Newmarket in July.

One of the highlight races at Meydan on Thursday is the Group Three UAE 2000 Guineas over a mile on the dirt and it sees a classy field of runners head to post.

Mouheeb takes the eye in this event with the three year old colt being a very lightly raced son of Flatter and showing bundles of ability in both his runs to date.

The colt made his debut in December over six furlongs at Jebel Ali and was a smart winner of a maiden contest, not lacking any pace.

In January he was quickly moved up to eight furlongs to see if he would get the trip on the dirt over course and distance at Meydan and he was a narrow second to a hot favourite for Charlie Appleby in a conditions race.

Although this event is a step up in class, he looks to be a highly progressive individual that handles the track and should improve again for his run in the Trial.

Another cracker on the dirt is the Group Three Firebreak Stakes over a mile and the ex Mark Johnston trained Matterhorn will be tough to beat in this one.

The six year old was a superb horse for the Scottish trainer being a frequent winner on both the all weather and the turf during his time in Britain.

Some of his best performances saw him land a race at Lingfield on all weather championship day. a Listed event at Windsor and neck second at Leopardstown in September in the Group Two Boomerang Stakes.

At the start of last year he moved over to Dubai and given to trainer Salem bin Ghadayer and finished a smart third over a mile in this event, in what was his debut in the UAE.

He has only been seen once more and it saw him land the Group One Al Maktoum Challenge over 10 furlongs and off the back of that dropping back to this class makes him a big player.

The penultimate race of the afternoon in the UAE is the Meydan Classic Trial over seven furlongs and we can't look past the favourite Last Sunset.

This three year old filly carries a serious piece of form that should set him apart from this field getting weight off most of the runners aswell.

The likeable youngster was a smart horse in Britain last term, winning at Kempton over seven furlongs in July on debut and then backing that up with two placed runs.

In September she ran a poor race in a nursery handicap over a mile at Newmarket and was since given time off, to get her ready for her runs at Meydan.

This event has been the target for a while, having had a prep run in January over the same course and distance on her UAE debut and she managed to finish a close second behind the superb Soft Whisper.

Soft Whisper has since gone on to frank that form massively by going on to win the UAE 1000 Guineas last week by an emphatic seven lengths.

The final event of the day is the Listed Dubai Sprint Handicap contest over six furlongs and with a huge field of runners set to go to post we have two big priced each way selections.

The first selection at a double figure price is the Ken Condon trained Could Be King and with the booking of Andrea Atzeni he is worth taking note of.

The five year old was a smart horse last term over in Ireland winning an 18 runner Premier Handicap at Leopardstown in September and also placing two starts ago at the Curragh in a six furlong Listed Event.

Last time out he gave another pleasing run when running freely, but still managing to stay on well in the final stages to finish fifth of 10 runners in a Group Two event.

Dropping down to six furlongs is a huge plus and also the drop in class to a similar sort of race he has performed well in the past makes him a big each way player at 10/1.

At a similar double figure price, Ottoman Court for Charlie Appleby is our other each way selection with the four year old gelding holding the ability to go well in this event.

The gelding had four runs in 2019, placing at Newmarket in a Maiden behind Visinari on his second start, placing again at Newbury on his third start behind the Grade One winning Quadrilateral and last time out getting off the mark in fine style at Chelmsford.

The Godolphin owned gelding has been off the track over a year now, but if capturing the form he has showed in his four runs to date, could just be a superstar in the making.