It is a sign of the changing nature of the Dubai World Cup Carnival that a filly of the quality of Flotilla can be lured to race at Meydan Racecourse so early in the season.
Flotilla was declared on Tuesday alongside Godolphin’s Certify and Shuruq to tomorrow’s Cape Verdi, a US$200,000 (Dh734,600) turf race that will be staged over 1,600 metres.
Mike de Kock’s exciting Mensoora, owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa, also lines up while L’Amour De Ma Vie from France and Pearl Bloodstock’s Pearl Of Africa complete the set.
Flotilla is officially rated at 118, which makes her by far the classiest filly ever to contest the Cape Verdi, which was upgraded to Group 3 status in 2009 and to Group 2 in 2011.
Flotilla won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile before she won the French 1,000 Guineas in May. She was then tried over too far in the Prix de Diane when beaten by Treve, the subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, and then suffered a niggling injury when trailing in sixth in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin in September.
“It has been a long time since she last ran and she has had a few problems,” trainer Mikel Delzangles said. “She didn’t run after the Diane because she was quite tired after that and she had a bruised foot after the Moulin that took quite a while to be sorted out.
“I am looking forward to seeing her back racing. I would not say she is 100 per cent, but she is ready to run a good race.”
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Company Profile
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US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
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