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American Horses will Excel, Says Hamdan

DUBAI – Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, doesn’t fancy the Japanese and UAE horses to win the $10m Dubai World Cup powered by Emirates Airline.

But, the leading international horse owner and breeder didn’t dismiss the chances of the European horses even though he predicted the American domination over the competition would continue.

“The 15^th running of the world’s richest race on the All-Weather Meydan track will be different and the Japanese horses have a lot of work to do in order to handle the new surface. I think their chances are better in the turf races,” he said.

Regarding the UAE horses, Shaikh Hamdan can’t see any horse with good chance to compete with the European and American horses.

“The horses from Europe and the western coast of the Atlantic are very strong as compared to their UAE counterparts. The field is very competitive and the race will be closely contested between the horses which finished second and third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” he noted.

“My horses are not in their best form and we will send only two horses which have relatively better chances,” he added.

The Blue Stables of Shaikh Hamdan will be represented by Mutheeb in the $2m 1200m AW Dubai Golden Shaheen Gr-1 and Snaafy in the $5m 1800m Turf Dubai Duty Free Gr-1.

Both Mutheeb and Snaafy are trained by Musabah Al Muhairi at the Oasis Stables in Bur Dubai. Snaafy finished poor seventh behind Well Armed in the previous edition of the Dubai World Cup last season but failed to handle the All-Weather surface on two occasions. He was shifted to the turf where he won a low profile handicap race and finished well behind Imbongi in a group-3 event.

Shaikh Hamdan’s first jockey Richard Hills who will ride both horses, said Mutheeb will be his best chance on the World Cup night.

“He finished respectable second to Godolphin’s horses Desert Party and Sirocco Breeze and won a handicap race on distance and course. I think he will run a big race,” he said.