A 75-90 handicap highlights the card at Jebel Ali this Saturday afternoon with the 1400m contest due off as race 5 at 16:15. A return to Jebel Ali could well suit Onda Ruggente in this and he looks the one to be on, his form figures up the hill this season reading 5313. He was disappointing at Meydan last time but this looks a bit easier and a drop in trip should also suit.
Mayaadeen is getting on in years but he has also been in very good form at Jebel Ali this season and is another expected to put a marginally lesser effort at Meydan behind him. Perfect Love rounds out the list of interesting runners, he likely to find this easier than a couple of recent assignment elsewhere, but he must now prove himself under different circumstances and that just swings it in the other pairs favour.
Full credit to the management at Jebel Ali who agreed to stage an extra Purebred Arabian race to kick off the card, and they were duly rewarded with a full field of localbred maidens, albeit not an easy task to decipher the winner with all of them unrated. Ernst Oertel is notoriously hard to beat in this type of contest and is responsible for four of the field, but Basem Al Wathba looks to set a reasonable form standard having finished fourth on his debut at Sharjah and that experience shouldn’t be lost on him.
There is also a pair of maidens for the Thoroughbreds, the first of which likely to see Talentum as the one to beat in a 1200m contest for 3yos. He was third to Nopoli in a similar contest over 1600m recently and if handling the drop in trip he should put up a bold show. There are two fillies in the race and one of them, Home From Home, should emerge as the main danger, her stable in fine form and her recent sixth to Mimi Kakushi shown in good light by that one winning the UAE 1000 Guineas last week.
EYES ORDERED ON EXACT
The 1200m is also the trip for a maiden open to the older horses (as well as 3yos), and Exact Order is one to keep an eye on in this. He was very much learning on the job on his recent debut at the track but did make a move into contention to suggest he has plenty of ability and this won’t take a lot of winning.
Ismail Mohammed could have run Energetic against his own group in the other maiden but has kept him away from Home From Home and he should play a part here, the form of his second to Tiger Nation looking good and perhaps finding handicap company against his elders too much last time. A trio of sprints is completed by a 0-85 handicap, although top weight is the 79-rated Rayig.
He has maintained his form in the face of a busy spell but could be held back here by the potential lack of a strong pace. Tadhg O’Shea will be hoping something goes toe to toe with Razeen Dubai in the early stages as he could well get away with an easy(ish) lead and prove hard to peg back, acknowledging he does need to put a couple of lacklustre runs behind him.
It is worth chancing that he can. Plenty of bridesmaids on show as opposed to brides in the 1600m handicap for horses rated 0-70 but it is Bridesman who could be one in this. Whilst not exactly threatening a win, he has fewer convictions than his rivals after just five starts and he won’t find many weaker races than this.
And finally on what could be a good day for Zabeel, Ghost Of The Mambo should be in the thick of the action in he 1950m handicap, a course and distance over which he has already scored this season. That victory saw him beat Zucchini who has won twice since so the form looks good.
SELECTIONS
Race 1: Basem Al Wathba
Race 2: Talentum (NB)
Race 3: Exact Order (Nap)
Race 4: Razeen Dubai
Race 5: Lost Eden (Nap)
Race 6: Bridesman
Race 7: Ghost Of The Mambo
