Dubai Preview: Spot plays for UAE 1,000 Guineas night

Meydan racecourse, Dubai (Photo by Neville Hopwood/Dubai Racing Club)

January 19th, 2023

It’s UAE 1,000 Guineas day at Meydan, with three-year-old fillies seeking early black type honors. Two further stakes races on turf add interest to the day.

Here are some spot plays to look at.

Race 4, 10:45 a.m. ET: UAE 1,000 Guineas (Listed), 1,600 meters (about one mile), dirt, 3-year-old fillies

This doesn’t look to be the strongest renewal of this event. Five of the seven runners contested the Guineas Trial in late December, in which #5 Mimi Kakushi sprung a 16-1 surprise. The one most likely to turn the tables is runner-up #1 Asawer, a strong-finishing second that day.

#4 Here We Are, a stablemate of Mimi Kakushi, didn’t contest the Guineas Trial but did beat Asawer and Mimi Kakushi easily at that pair’s previous start, suggesting she’s right in this. The other runner, #3 Cite d’Or, is the highest-rated contestant, but she hasn’t raced on dirt and is hard to assess; given the uncertainty around her, I’m sticking with Mimi Kakushi.

$10 win/$20 place: #5 Mimi Kakushi
$1 trifecta box: 1, 4, 5

Race 5, 11:20 a.m. ET: Zabeel Mile (G2), 1,600 meters, turf, 3-year-olds and up

Godolphin provides five of the eight runners here, including the best-performed horse in the race, #6 Master of the Seas. He was runner-up to Poetic Flare in the 2021 2,000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket and won the Earl of Sefton (G3) at Newmarket April 12, but hasn’t run since. If he runs to the form he showed in those two races, he should win.

#7 Modern News has solid British form and should run well, while the most intriguing horse is #3 I Am Superman. The well-traveled gelding is back with his original Irish trainer Michael O’Callaghan after a solid stint in Australia, where he was a head away from a Group 1 victory at his last start Sept. 17.

$20 win: #6 Master of the Seas
$4 exacta: 6 with 3, 7

Race 6, 11:55 a.m. ET: Al Khail Trophy (Listed), 2,800 meters (about 1 3/4 miles), turf, 4-year-olds and up

If #3 Ardakan runs to the form that earned him a third-place finish behind subsequent Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) winner Rebel’s Romance in the Grosser Preis von Berlin (G1) Aug. 14, he will be very hard to topple. He disappointed a bit in the Jockey Club Derby (G3) Sept. 17 but might be happier with the roomier Meydan track.

The most interesting of the others is #10 New Comedy. Third to #8 Wickywickywheels and #4 Away He Goes at his last start, he is six pounds better off in the weights here.