Las Monjitas' horse took the lead, but tired in the straight and ended up last; Marbaan beat the favorite Mysterious Night in record time for the 1400-meter turf
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Special for Turf Diario) - The great expectations that the Argentinean Satu had generated for this Friday's Al Fahidi Fort (G2-1400 m, turf) at Meydan, after running a phenomenon a few weeks ago in his local debut, finishing fourth in the final meters of the Business Bay Challenge Stakes (L), close and leading from the jump, hit a wall, with the Las Monjitas' credit finishing last now.
The son of Catcher In the Rye was not far behind, it is true, as he finished less than 9 lengths behind the surprising Marbaan (Oasis Dream), winner over the favorite and defending champion Mysterious Night (Dark Angel), by 1 length, but he began to stay well ahead of schedule, when he seemed to have some energy to resist.
Record horse for the mile at the Hipódromo de San Isidro, the bay trained by Antonio Cintra and Julio Olascoaga had paid almost a year of layoff, and from there the illusion was to see him take a step forward this time, in fact, their connections passed a conditional race to face a much more difficult challenge before the good performance he had been showing in the morning workouts.
Always under pressure from G1W Danyah (Invincible Spirit), Satu controlled the pace during the first part of the course, starting to accelerate at the turn, but never being able to break away. He came into the stretch and they caught up fast, with Mysterious Night dominated over the fence and Marbaan thrown up the middle of the track to put up a fight.
Satu tried to fight back, but from the 200 meters mark to the wire, already tired, he fell back. James McDonald opened his dream night by bringing Michael Costa's trainee back to the limelight, because, as a 2-year-old he had won at Royal Ascot, England, the always transcendent Vintage Stakes (G2).
Owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, the winner set a new record for the distance when stopping the clock at the end in 1m21s45/100, with the fact that it was the third time this season that the mark is lowered.
“He had improved after winning in Abu Dhabi, even though he is not the most clocked. I think at this distance we found the niche for his best performance. He arrived very well from Great Britain, and that was thanks to the work of Charlie Fellowes, who was looking after him there,” said Costa.
Comentários