REVIEW / DUBAI TURF 24 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 840 Thursday 4th April 2024 adiyat racing plus.com By Sam Turner Renditions of La Marseillaise could be heard echoing around a vibrant Meydan Racecourse as Facteur Cheval finally enjoyed his day in the sun with a thrilling victory in the G1 Dubai Turf. So often the bridesmaid last summer in some of the leading European pattern races, the five-year-old son of Ribchester chased home the likes of Big Rock, Paddington and Sauterne at the top-level. However, racing in the colours of Team Valour International and Gary Barber, the Gallic raider appeared to find improvement here for a step up to 1800m. Jerome Reynier’s trainee needed to be tough to register his first G1 win though with the Cristian Demuro-ridden Namur tenacious in defeat as the duo dueled down the Meydan straight. After a pulsating battle, Maxime Guyon forced Facteur Cheval’s head in front at the line to deny his Japanese rival a second success on the night for his country following their win in the UAE Derby. The strongly fancied Do Deuce found everything happening too quickly, but stayed on strongly into fifth in the straight despite not enjoying the clearest of passages with connections perhaps ruing the fact he was in this race and not the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic. Third-home Danon Beluga, runner-up a year ago, finished off well again for third, once again just missing out on the Gold medal. “He’s a great champion. We didn’t know how CONSISTENT CHEVAL FINALLY HITS THE BIG TIME IN THRILLING DUBAI TURF he would handle the faster ground because he has more used to racing on soft and heavy surfaces but you can see how well he did,” said Guyon who was winning the race for the second time after Solow in 2015. “He gave me a really great turn of foot and really wanted to fight to the line. I didn’t want to go too early because he’s been running over 1600m and was stepping up in trip slightly, for all that I think he’ll stay 2000m. I always had this thought at the back of my mind that it was his first run of the year and it was further than he’s been running over. But I never felt like he would crack,” he added. I NEVER FELT LIKE HE WOULD CRACK— MAXIME GUYON.
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