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Angus McNae - Thursday 31st January
(You can read Angus's column every Thursday during the Dubai World Cup Carnival, in addition to his Saturday column)
Some things in life can be explained instantly and simply and we all like those.
Others take a little more thought, no problem I hear you say.
Then there are some really tough situations in life that can tax us to the limit.
Finally there is the totally inexplicable category that from now on I am going to call the Reynaldothewizard syndrome.
Yes there are things in life that we just cannot get our heads around and the win of Reynaldothewizard at last week’s Dubai World Cup Carnival is certainly one of them.
I was not the only one who was amazed by the success of this sprinter.
Before the race Satish Seemar, his trainer, was interviewed and without saying the horse had no chance he could not have been much more negative.
After the race Richard Mullen, his jockey, was surprised too, he did not know what to say except that the horse had not been working very well.
The only thing we as punters could have put our faith in before the race was the fact that he was wearing blinkers for the first time, but even this angle provided a very loose peg to hang your hat on. Quite simply we should file the result in Reynaldo's very own draw and move on.
I shall look at last week’s races below, but for now we can move on to this week’s fare and the Al Rashidiya, which as a nine-furlong Group 2 is the feature event.
Four of the ten runners belong to Godolphin and it is hard to see anyone else getting their hands on any of the $200,000 prize-money.
Their number one contender is possibly Sharestan, who won the trial for this race in a decent time with the promise of better to come.
Some will argue that City Style is actually the best of the Godolphin quartet and with a rating of 116 he is certainly the highest-rated in the field and has been mixing it in much better company than he faces today - we last saw him finishing last of nine in the Eclipse behind Nathaniel.
Before that he was second to Musir in this race last year and then went on to be third to Cityscape in the Dubai Duty Free.
That is the best form on offer in this field and if he can overcome a long layoff he could easily prove to be the best of the Godolphin runners and thus the best horse in the race.
As far as the other races are concerned Mushreq is my best hope in the 2.30. Paul Hanagan had a nightmare on this horse behind Masteroftherolls last week, and in all honesty he should have won. He got caught in a pocket in the home straight and got out all too late. Hanagan is on board again this afternoon and compensation awaits with a smoother passage.
As for last week’s races, I have looked into them and have written a brief synopsis of each.
An in-form stayer who was given an easy lead at a trip short of his best. Richard Mullen did the rest keeping the tempo steady until he wanted to go.
Another winner for Godolphin at this year's Carnival and a fourth career win for this horse. The time was good in ca ompetitive contest. Can he back this up though?
Grand theft equine from Soumillon, rode his fellow riders to sleep from the front in a poor contest by Carnival standards. A result to be wary of.
Blinkers, Blinkers. Blinkers. What else can you say?
A nice result for those of us who believe in the maxim that the fastest horse in a race usually wins.
The former winner of the Group 1 Criterium de Saint Cloud lands this Handicap off a mark of 105. Little more needs to be said.
All in all the action can be summed up by saying there were two easy lead wins, a handicap blot, a blinkers first time that was highly improbable and three Godolphin winners. Easy really isn't it?
Make sure you tune into Racing UK this afternoon when we will be able to contextualise these results better with some speed figures.
Today's tips:
2.30pm Meydan - Mushreq
4.50pm Meydan - City Style
