IN FOCUS / MICHAEL COSTA adiyat racing plus.com 24 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 838 Thursday 21 st March 2024 COSTA ROCKETS READY TO FIRE While a few Thoroughbred races remain on the domestic side of things, Costa has readied a pair of sprinters to tackle the two Group One affairs on the Dubai World Cup programme. Bilhayl goes first in the Al Quoz Sprint (turf), while G3 Al Shindagha Sprint winner Mouheeb is among the local contingent looking to stop Sibelius from winning consecutive Dubai Golden Shaheen titles. “It’s going good with both of them and it’s probably the best we’ve got both horses at, at the moment,” said Costa. “And it’s all coming together really well, which is good. And they’ve got to be at their best on DWC night so we’ll just head that way.” Ma Yetal was one of the top acts for Costa during the 2023/24 campaign and might have seemed a top prospect for the G2 UAE Derby at one stage, but his retraction from the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal on Super Saturday might have spelled the end of his season. Costa confirmed the Flameaway colt lacked maturity and that bound him to “do the right thing by the horse”. “It was just immaturities with him (Ma Yetal) and he just started to feel the prep and he’d sort of had enough, so we decided rather than just push him through we just pulled up stumps,” said Costa, with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “No issues were stopping us, it’s just immaturities and he just needs a bit of time to fill up and develop. He needs to strengthen up and develop so we’ll do the right thing by the horse and have a proper sprinter for next year.” Ma Yetal won both his starts, debuting with a 14 length victory in a 1200m Conditions event for juveniles in December and running on gamely thereafter to lift the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial in early January. His next obvious appearance might have been in the 2000 Guineas on January 26th, but his return to action was delayed until the Mahab Al Shimaal, which eventually fizzled out. “We gave him the best shot, we tried,” explained Costa. “We wanted to get him to the 2000 Guineas, we wanted to get him to that sprint (Mahab Al Shimaal) we thought was pretty winnable, especially with him at his best. “I was confident that he would’ve done a job Mouheeb WE GAVE HIM THE BEST SHOT, WE TRIED. BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO PUSH A HORSE IF IT’S GOING TO JEOPARDISE THEIR NEXT SEASON. SO WE’LL DO THE RIGHT THING BY THE HORSE AND ENJOY THE FRUITS NEXT YEAR — MICHAEL COSTA ON STABLE STAR MA YETAL’S SEASON.
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