DUBAI // The dark blue of the Magnier racing dynasty scored a first Dubai win on Super Thursday with strong-running filly Front House.
Now her trainer, UAE-based South African Mike de Kock, hopes she can go one better and win one of the richest turf races in the world at the season finale.
Sue Magnier, wife of the Coolmore operation founder, John, owns a half share in the four-year-old along with long-time de Kock owner, Mary Slack. Slack will be in the paddock on Saturday to cheer the filly on.
"It was great to win with her," said de Kock yesterday, referring to the Group Two Dubai City of Gold success. "John Magnier hadn't had a winner in Dubai and Mary Slack is a big supporter of mine, so it was great to see."
The way Front House did it was gutsy enough to earn her a place against the boys in the US$5million (Dh18.63m) Dubai Sheema Classic on Saturday.
Drawn in gate 16 she was forced to go the long way round; swinging wide of many of her Sheema Classic rivals, slotting into third and staying the distance after the leaders faded.
Guided by jockey Kevin Shea she crossed the line ahead of runner-up Quijano, fourth in last year's Sheema Classic, stablemate King of Rome and the Luca Cumani-trained Purple Moon.
De Kock compared Front House on that occasion to Sun Classique, the iron-willed filly he trained to win the 2008 Sheema Classic and the prospect of consecutive wins must be making his mouth water.
It will not simply be a matter of showing up; a victim of her own success, Front House will carry more weight than Quijano over the shorter trip.
"She won the South African Oaks when she was six months younger than the other horses in the race so she's tough," said de Kock. "She's always there or there abouts."
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
