Go Soldier Go (Tapiture) stayed best to land a pulsating edition of the $170,000 Listed Al Bastakiya Sponsored By Arabian Adventures at Meydan for trainer Fawzi Nass and jockey Adrie de Vries.
The complexion of the race changed dramatically inside the final furlong when long-time leader and G3 UAE Oaks runner-up Ami Please (Goldencents) began to wilt, leaving Mr Raj (Bolt d'Oro) and Go Soldier Go to surge down the outside late on.
In fighting off Mr Raj to win by a head, Go Soldier Go staked his claims for G2 UAE Derby glory in three weeks' time. The filly was another three lengths back in third.
De Vries said afterwards, “He takes time to get going. Actually, he travelled okay but I was stuck behind a wall of horses who were beaten down the backside. The front horses were getting further and further away but there was not much I could do about it. Once I got out in the clear, I had to rush him of course to make up so much ground, but once he's out of the kickback, he has a beautiful stride and he keeps on going. He has a lot of stamina.”
The jockey added, “He has always worked well at home but when he is in between horses, he is still very immature and, in a bigger field like today, it's hard to stay out of the kickback. But, once he did, he picked up really good.”
Go Soldier Go and Mr Raj are graduates of the inaugural Goffs Dubai Breeze Up Sale. Go Soldier Go was a $45,000 purchase by Chad Schumer at Keeneland September and sold for over €120,000 to Nass when consigned by Church Farm and Horse Park Stud at last year's breeze-up. Mr Raj was consigned by Gaybrook Lodge and sold to Ahmad Bintouq for €86,773. Never off the board in five Meydan starts, the winner won a 1900-metre conditions race by 5 1/2 lengths on Feb. 5.
One of just two winners from four to race for his dam, Go Soldier Go is Better Again (Thunder Gulch)'s first stakes winner, although two of her daughters have foaled black-type horses including the New Mexico stakes winners Better Believe (Marking) and Marked (Marking). Australian Group 1 winner Forbidden Love (Aus) (All Too Hard {GB}) is in the extended family.
Saturday, Meydan, Middle East
AL BASTAKIYA (SPONSORED BY ARABIAN ADVENTURES)-Listed, $170,000, Meydan, 3-4, NH3yo & SH3yo, 1900m, 1:58.91, ft.
1–GO SOLDIER GO, 122, c, 3, by Tapiture
1st Dam: Better Again, by Thunder Gulch
2nd Dam: Scenic Point, by Street Sense
3rd Dam: Picture Book, by Tapit
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($45,000 ylg '21 KEESEP, €123,962 HRA
'22 GOFMAR). O-Victorious; B-Brandywine Farm (Jim & Pam
Robinson) (KY); T-Fawzi Nass; J-Adrie de Vries. $102,000.
Lifetime Record: 5-2-1-2, $133,238.
2–Mr Raj, 121, c, 3, Bolt D'Oro–Sonja's Angel, by Smoke
Glacken. ($70,000 RNA ylg '21 KEESEP, €86,773 HRA '22
GOFMAR). O-Ahmad Bintooq Al Marri; B-John B Penn (FL);
T-Ahmad bin Harmash. $34,000.
3–Ami Please, 118, f, 3, Goldencents–Bellezza Rosso, by Tapit.
O-W C Racing & Wonderland Racing; B-Glenn Sorgenstein (KY);
T-Doug O'Neill. $17,000.
Margins: HD, 3, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Southern Artist, Priyanka, Lahresh (GB), Eye On The Prize (Arg), Flying Hunter, Nopoli (GB), Sharp Army, Slava Ukraini (Den), Oasis Moon. VIDEO.
Look at him go!
Go Soldier Go sprouts wings late on to land Listed honours in the Al Bastakiya Sponsored by Arabian Adventures for Adrie de Vries & @AbdullaNass_#DWC23 | #RacingDubai pic.twitter.com/7TYT9Z2E2W
— Dubai Racing Club (@RacingDubai) March 4, 2023
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