COVID | Horse Racing Free Tips

Capacity Crowds Expected For DWC Night

The Mar. 26 Dubai World Cup night, which features $30.5 million in purses spread across nine races, is expected to attract a full house of fans for the 26th edition. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, race meetings have been conducted with restrictions placed on the number of people allowed to attend, but for the first time since 2019, there are no restrictions at a Meydan race day. Meydan Racecourse can hold up to 80,000 spectators.

Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, the Chairman of Dubai Racing Club, said, “We are so happy to have everyone back here for what will be a fantastic 26th running of the Dubai World Cup meeting. The atmosphere will be absolutely electrifying.

“The quality of the horses, trainers, owners and jockeys who have assembled is better than ever and we are looking forward to a superb day of racing with our guests from all over the world.

“I would like to thank our partners for their support and also the team at Dubai Racing Club, who have worked so hard to bring this meeting together.”

For the first time, the Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale will be held on Mar. 23 leading up to Dubai World Cup night. The sale will be held at Meydan Racecourse, with the breezes conducted over the Tapeta track.

He added, “The first-ever Dubai Breeze-Up Sale is something we are all looking forward to eagerly as well, as it gives owners and connections in the region the chance to view and purchase some of the best bred 2-year-old horses in their backyard. It is something that will further cement Dubai's position as one of the main centres for racing, not just in the region, but globally too.”

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UK Jockey Weights To Rise

The three-pound COVID allowance for riders will be replaced with an across-the-board two-pound rise in the published weights, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) confirmed on Monday. In addition, the current three-pound back protector allowance will be raised to a general four-pound safety allowance for jockeys. These changes will go into effect for races staged from Monday, May 2, following further discussions with the Professional Jockeys Association (PJA), National Trainers Federation (NTF), and a number of Flat and Jump jockeys. Horses will continue to carry the same weights that they have been carrying since the COVID allowance was introduced as an emergency measure in June of 2020. In race cards, the published weight will increase by two pounds.

Richard Wayman, Chief Operating Officer of the BHA, said, “I would like to thank the many people from within the weighing room who have spoken with us in recent weeks. This process has allowed us to consider further concerns which did not feature as part of the initial consultation.”

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Pyledriver Points to Sheema Classic

Group 1 winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), who finished 11th in the G3 Neom Turf Cup on the Saudi Cup undercard in Riyadh on Saturday, is in good order and remains in the mix for the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night on Mar. 26. Breaking widest of all from gate 14 on Saturday, the 5-year-old entire never appeared comfortable while trapped well off the fence for most of the race. He eventually tired and dropped back before being impeded by a rival that had fallen two furlongs from home.

“He was fine straight after the race, there was nothing wrong with him and he was in really good shape, we were just drawn in 14 and as soon as we'd gone 150 yards I said to the boys watching on TV 'we've got no chance',” said co-trainer William Muir, who shares the licence with Chris Grassick. “We got pushed out wide and that was where we were drawn so we have no complaints, but we were out wide and we were never into an even rhythm.

“It was not a nice race for us and then there was a bit of a bumping match and that horse [Channel Cat] came down which was sad, that bumped us too and then after that Martin [Dwyer] just looked after him.

“It was just one of those you have to put a line through, it's disappointing to go a long way to get a race like that but that happens–it's the luck of the draw.”

A winner of the G1 Coronation Cup last June, the bay added a Lingfield listed affair in November and then was a good second in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase on Dec. 12.

“He's fine, he didn't really have a race and he only blew for about five minutes,” the trainer, who missed traveling to Riyadh due to a COVID positive, said. “He looked fantastic this morning, they took a video for me and he's 100% sound. If he comes home fine then he'll continue on to his road to Dubai and we'll go for the Sheema Classic.

“It was just one of the things, from me testing positive and not being able to go, I was disappointed about that, then things just didn't go to plan. It wasn't meant to be.”

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Buick Off Saudi Cup Mounts After Covid Positive

Godolphin jockey William Buick, who was slated to ride the Jan. 21 G2 Al Fahidi Fort hero Naval Crown (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 1351 Turf Sprint on the Saturday of the Saudi Cup meeting, has tested positive for Covid and will be off his mounts in Riyadh on Saturday. Also due to ride Siskany (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 Longines Red Sea Turf H., Noble Truth (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) in the G3 Saudi Derby and Copano Kicking (Spring At Last) in the G3 Riyadh Cup Sprint, Buick missed several rides at Meydan on Friday, as well. In Friday's G3 Dubai Millennium S., Buick had been booked for Star Safari (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), but Andrea Atzeni finished second aboard the Godolphin runner instead.

For his Saudi Cup mounts, James Doyle will deputise for Buick on Naval Crown and Siskany, while Frankie Dettori has been called up to ride Noble Truth. In place of Doyle on Happy Power (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the 1351 Cup Sprint is David Egan. The regular rider of 2021 Saudi Cup victor Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), Egan also picks up the ride on Copano Kicking for Buick in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

Ginobili (Munnings) will be forced to miss the Sprint after emerging from his second gallop at King Abdulaziz unsatisfactorily. Trainer Richard Baltas told Daily Racing Form that the 5-year-old was lame in his left for, but that the first set of X-rays taken were negative. Results of a second set of images were pending and Baltas surmised that Ginobili would undergo a nuclear scan upon his return to America.

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