CAN AL DASIM WALK THE TALK ON THE BIG NIGHT?

By Duane Fonseca

Headlines in the turf sprint division this year have been dominated by just one name: enter George Boughey’s pace ace Al Dasim. Three wins in three course and distance contests that mirror the 1200m Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint presented by Azizi Developments have rightfully earned Boughey’s charge the moniker of favourite.

But will that weigh heavily on the 3yo son of Harry Angel, himself an honest champion of the generation gone by? Well, time will reveals the truth Saturday just as spotlights start to take over track illumination duties at Meydan, but there is plenty to like about Al Dasim who has shouldered the responsibility of carving a niche for his young trainer’s rapidly burgeoning repertoire.

Boughey saddled three during his first outing in Dubai and only Al Dasim has lived up to the hype, winning a pair of conditions runs before seeing out the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, the Al Quoz’s Super Saturday equivalent, in which he ruined the chances of numerous others looking to qualify for the main event.

From among them only Rashed Bouresly’s Miqyaas, winner of the Group 2 Blue Point Stakes, over the shorter 1000m trip joins him here, looking for a reversal that frankly seems well beyond him on what will be a massive upping of class for the 8yo Oasis Dream gelding, whose had a dream run this term with his success in the Blue Point his third consecutive strike.

Miqyaas is among three locally-trained names in the field and lines up alongside San Donato and Logo Hunter, who are schooled by Doug Watson and Bhupat Seemar respectively. San Donato, a former Roger Varian trainee, won the Listed Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup over a mile on his UAE debut, with Watson opting to dispatch him here, perhaps spurred by his second place finish in the 1400m Listed Ras Al Khor, also run on Super Saturday, that was won by Charlie Appleby’s Al Suhail, who also runs here.

San Donato has three wins over 1200m in Britain, including one in a novice event where he narrowly beat Hello Youmzain, who has now moved on to stallion duties after winning a pair of Group One affairs. Logo Hunter, meanwhile, earned his spot having finished third a head behind Miqyaas in the Blue Point, a race in which John Murtagh’s Group 2 Sapphire Stakes winner at The Curragh Ladies Church was second.

While that marked her first UAE start, the Churchill filly is bound to hit back harder this time despite never having won at 1200m in two previous attempts in Ireland. Traditional Meydan turf powerhouses Godolphin won this twice: with Jungle Cat (2018) and Blue Point (2019), both trained by Charlie Appleby, who this year fields the aforementioned Al Suhail, who is two in two this year over this surface, but sadly not over this trip.