Local trainers have won nearly three quarters of this year’s thoroughbred races and good things seem to come in threes for Godolphin. And the resolve of last year’s Dubai World Cup-winning jockey Silvestre de Sousa should be applauded.
Local trainers have the upper hand
Doug Watson, Saeed bin Suroor, Satish Seemar, Musabah Al Muhairi and Mike de Kock have won 74 per cent of the thoroughbred races staged at Meydan Racecourse this season.
This could obviously change on World Cup night, on March 28, but with just 19 trainers having thoroughbred winners there it has been the least competitive season since the racecourse was built for 2010.
There have been the romantic victories for Sweden’s Jessica Long, Niels Petersen from Norway and Brendan Powell from Britain, but power has largely remained in the hands of the few.
Last season, 30 trainers had thoroughbred winners at Meydan and, even in the final year at Nad Al Sheba in 2008/09, there were 24 thoroughbred trainers who mounted the podium.
Multiple winners
Godolphin’s season has been bolstered by Hunter’s Light, Safety Check and Local Time, a trio of horses who have secured three wins at Meydan, while Tamarkuz, Mubtaahij and Shaishee have also registered three timers. Certain trainers have stolen a march with regards to assembling a stable that would definitely go on Meydan’s dirt surface. They have been richly rewarded.
One for the statisticians: Ali Rashid Al Raihe’s Mundahesh was the only thoroughbred horse last season to win three races at Meydan.
Majed Al Jahouri’s Rabbah De Carrere was the only Purebred Arabian.
The rise of Salem bin Ghadayer
The partially blind, former endurance rider is seventh in the trainers’ standings at Meydan with five wins from 53 runners this season.
Few outside the sport of endurance had heard of Bin Ghadayer at the beginning of the season but he has made his mark working in tandem with Mikael Barzalona for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.
Although Al Raihe is one place above Bin Ghadayer in sixth, it is a dramatic fall in fortunes for the master of Grandstand Stables. In the 2011/12 season Al Raihe saddled 47 winners in the UAE from 390 runners.
He has saddled 285 runners this season for just 17 winners.
Godolphin are being far more selective
Both Saeed bin Suroor and Charlie Appleby have brought reduced teams to Dubai this season in terms of numbers, but that has not resulted in a drop in winners. Last season, Bin Suroor saddled 81 runners for 17 winners at Meydan and Appleby 71 runners for six winners.
This season Bin Suroor has registered 18 winners from just 58 runners with World Cup night to come. Appleby is four from 41.
According to insiders at Godolphin, it is a strategy that is likely to remain in place next season.
The resolute Silvestre de Sousa
It is easy to forget that African Story won the Dubai World Cup last season under Silvestre De Sousa.
The Brazilian jockey no longer rides for Godolphin and had to pay a huge sum of money as a fine to the Emirates Racing Authority to even participate at this season’s Dubai World Cup Carnival.
He deserves every accolade going and has kept champion-elect Richard Mullen extremely honest by chasing him to the bitter end throughout the season.
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