Rebel’s Romance spearheads Godolphin attack on UAE 2000 Guineas Trial

Charlie Appleby-trained gelding has recorded two wins in two starts at the all-weather in the UK before race at Meydan

Rebel’s Romance, trained by Charlie Appleby, is undefeated going into the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial at Meydan on Thursday. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Godolphin has a trio of runners in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial spearheaded by the undefeated Rebel’s Romance at Meydan on Thursday.

The Charlie Appleby-trained strapping homebred Dubawi gelding enters the fray after recording two wins in two starts at the all-weather in the UK in October and November.

“As a gelding, Dubai is ideal for him because he can aim at the Classics here,” Appleby said of Rebel’s Romancek, the mount of his first choice jockey William Buick.

“He has done nothing wrong so far and is pleasing us at home. He should run well.”

Fellow Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor is double handed in the race with Line Of Attack (Hector Crouch) and Rich Waters (Harry Bentley) but they would both appear to need to improve significantly on their British form.

Challenging the royal blues in the race are eight others, including Ali Rashid Al Raihe’s Zhou Storm who is undefeated in two starts over 1,200m and 1,400m in the track.

“He had to work hard the first day over 1,200m, but was then very impressive, under a penalty, over 1,400m,” Al Raihe’s stable jockey Connor Beasley said of the Due Diligence colt.

“He has had a nice six-week break and the extra 200m should suit, but we do have a wide draw to overcome this time.”

Al Raihe, who celebrated a treble in the Dubai World Cup Carnival’s opening meeting last week, also sends out Grand Dubai and Chosen Mark.

Grand Dubai finished twice behind stable companion Zhou Storm before being successful in his third start over the track and trip under Sandro Paiva, who retains the ride.

Chosen Mark was successful on his first of the two runs on British soil and unplaced in both his local starts.

Nicholas Bachalard’s Mouheeb, who recorded an impressive victory at Jebel Ali in December, will be in action in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial at Meydan on Thursday. Courtesy Dubai Horse Racing Information Centre

Nicholas Bachalard’s Mouheeb arrives on the back of an impressive victory in his only start to be the major threat.

Tom Marquand was atop in that victory over the 1,200m trip at Jebel Ali and the stable jockey Ryan Curatolo, who was serving suspension on that occasion, is back in the saddle for his second career start.

“We have some nice young horses and he is definitely among the better ones,” Bachalard said.

“We decided to keep him at Jebel Ali the first time, even though the 1,200m would be his absolute minimum trip, so we were very pleased with the way he won.

“Obviously, this is a better race under different conditions, but the 1,600m should be ideal at this stage of his career.”

Completing the field are Salem bin Ghadayer’s pair Talo (Mickael Barzalona) and Areen (Royston Ffrench), Doug Watson’s Al Murqab (Pat Dobbs) and Ahmad bin Harmash’s unraced Sharp Spun under Fernando Jara.