It is fair to say that trainer Brendan Powell has been taken aback by Dark Emerald’s success in Dubai this season.
Dark Emerald is one of two dual Dubai World Cup Carnival winners, alongside Godolphin’s Safety Check, in Thursday night’s Group 2 Zabeel Mile at Meydan Racecourse.
Both would top their hat-trick with a big slice of the US$250,000 (Dh918,000) prize money.
Dark Emerald narrowly missed winning a handicap over 1,600 metres on the second night of the Carnival last month, before wins over 1,200m and then 1,400m last week have more than paid his way.
His success has surprised Powell to such an extent that the gelding is still booked to return to the trainer’s base in England on Tuesday, ahead of next week’s Super Saturday and World Cup night on March 28.
Only a victory might persuade Powell to keep his charge in the UAE. The Carnival was designed with horses such as Dark Emerald in mind and, should he cause a minor upset, surely an invitation to the most valuable night in racing would follow.
Whatever the result, the British trainer will be savouring every moment as Dark Emerald becomes the 55-year-old handler’s first runner at group level.
“He’s been a great boost for a stable like ours,” Powell said. “I don’t have a horse in my stable anywhere near as good as him. We have won almost $200,000 here in three runs. I’d spend a long time in England trying to get half that.”
Try six months. Powell sent out 176 runners last season on the flat in Britain in 2014 to generate a similar amount in total prize money.
Woven into the fabric of this story, therefore, is the familiar tale at Meydan of David versus Goliath – any one trainer up against the massed ranks of Godolphin or Mike de Kock.
Safety Check will run in the royal blue silks of Godolphin, as will Outstrip, a grey shadow of the former Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner.
De Kock, the most successful international trainer, saddles three in Anaerobio, Johan Strauss and Darwin.
Only 15 months ago, Dark Emerald finished tailed off to the tune of 68 lengths in a minor hurdle race on heavy ground.
Where Richard Mullen has previously ridden Dark Emerald, the leading rider at Meydan this season has commitments in Qatar, which opens the door for Kieren Fallon.
Fallon, who turned 50 on Sunday, has been passing the winter riding in part for Eoin Harty, the Godolphin trainer, in California and has vowed to return to the United States after World Cup night in a bid to revive his riding career.
In the last Carnival, Fallon was riding for Saeed bin Suroor and vying with Silvestre De Sousa as the main jockey at Al Quoz stables. It has been a sharp fall, and is one that Fallon hopes to get up from quickly.
“He has ridden Dark Emerald a lot in England previously, and I saw him last week when he rode at Meydan and he looks in great shape,” Powell said.
“Dark Emerald’s best distance is a mile. He only ran over 1,200m here because he was balloted out. He has clearly benefited from the sun on his back and is improving.”
He will need to improve, because Safety Check broke the track record when putting four lengths on Eastern Rules in the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort 35 days ago.
Safety Check has yet to prove his worth at this level at a mile and looks all about speed, but the potential lack of stamina does not concern jockey William Buick.
“I think he will get the mile,” he said.
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