Charlie Appleby’s formidable dominance of the Dubai Racing Carnival continued on Friday when the mighty Godolphin handler swept three of the evening’s four races including the featured Singspiel Stakes (G2) presented by Longines with second-string Naval Power.
The son of Teogilo emerged from a 13-month absence to surprise Appleby with his impressive performance under Mickael Barzalona, who completed a meeting double having piloted English Rose to land the Group 2 Balanchine for fillies and mare.
“He (Naval Power) was not nominated for the Dubai Turf as we were not expecting him to win tonight, but he has probably put himself in the picture to be potentially supplemented,” the trainer told the Godolphin website.
“An international campaign would be on the cards. He seems to enjoy these sort of tracks, he is a gelding, and ticks all the boxes for a horse I like to send internationally, most likely in America.”
Commenting on English Rose the trainer said: “Mentally she’s come forward as she was a bit keen the first time out. She had the race under her belt and this is probably her ideal trip.
“We haven’t quite firmed up a plan for these fillies yet. This filly could join [Cape Verdi winner] Silver Lady on a trip to America for the Keeneland meet in April.”
Appleby completed his treble when history-maker Siskany chalked up a tenth career win in the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy to win the contest twice and book his ticket to the 3200 metre Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup, in which he finished second last year.
“He’s just a lovely horse who has been around for a while now. He’s very predictable: he turns up, does his best and seems to excel here at Meydan,” said winning jockey William Buick.
“He’s probably a horse who enjoys having targets, but he knows where the line is here, so I just have to point and shoot.”
The Listed Al Bastakiya Presented by Longines, produced an absolute thriller before Killer Collect lived up to his name to deny Auto Bahn after a gripping battle to the finish.
Bhupat Seemar’s colt was ridden by Tadhg O’Shea who commented: “I was devastated the last time when nothing went right in the Guineas after he fluffed his lines in the gates.
“He’s a lovely horse, I’ve loved him from day one, even when he was unsold at the sale here – I rang Michael Burke (owner) and luckily he decided to buy him.
“He’s got the perfect gap now; five weeks, so all roads lead to the (G2 UAE) Derby on World Cup night.”
The Fawzi Nass-trained Manama Gold extended her perfect record to three-from-three when winning the Group 3 UAE Oaks Presented by Longines under legendary Dutch jockey Adrie de Vries.
The Dubai Racing Carnival concludes next week, March 2nd, when ‘Super Saturday’ includes nine Pattern races, including the Dhs 1.7million G2 Al Maktoum Classic.
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