Meydan Friday Preview - 21/01/22

The first race of the day at Meydan on Friday is the six furlong Dubai Trophy Conditions event and Home City for Saeed bin Suroor takes the eye as a potential improver.

The three year old son of Profitable needed his first two runs last season over 5f, but on his third start at Yarmouth went up to 6f and gave a much better account of himself when a good second.

He then got off the mark at Newbury on quick ground and backed that up at Chelmsford seeing off a potentially nice type for Mark Johnston.

Seen twice more last season he finished a fair eighth of 20 runners in a valuable event at Doncaster which has seen the first win again and the second and third being smart types.

He finished his season off at Godowood with a narrow second to a progressive type for Roger Varian with the soft ground going against him.

Given a break, he had his first run of the year over seven furlongs at Meydan last week, and now dropping to six furlongs being fitter for the experience he should go close.

Another nice event on the Meydan card is the Jumeirah Derby Trial over 1m1f and Island Falcon will be looking to give Saeed bin Suroor a quick-fire double.

The three year old has been seen twice to date for the Godolphin trainer, finishing third on debut at Goodwood behind two impressive types on soft ground.

Last time out Island Falcon got off the mark and franked the form of that race when enjoying the switch to better ground.

Frankie Dettori takes the ride on this unexposed type and he could have a lot more to give.

Charlie Appleby has a huge chance to land the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial on Friday with Albahr, who heads into the event seeking a five timer.

The three year old started over six furlongs when third behind stablemate Lusail at York, but has since gone unbeaten in four starts.

Moved up to 7f at Haydock he enjoyed the step up in trip to win narrowly and he then backed that up over the same course and distance, enjoying the quick ground.

Stepped up to a mile at Salisbury for a Listed event, he beat a nice horse for Hugo Palmer, showing clear progression with each run.

Looking to give a career best run when last seen, he was sent over to Canada for the Group One Summer Stakes at Woodbine and he was superb taking the event by just over two lengths.

Dropping back in trip and grade should be no problem and he is the obvious contender.

The penultimate selection of the afternoon in Dubai comes in the feature Group Two Al Rashidiya over 1m1f and we are siding with the trusty Lord Glitters for David O'Meara.

Lord Glitters has been a superstar for the yard over the years landing multiple Group One events and even at the of nine is still putting in high class performances.

Winning a Group One over course and distance in March last year he is a natural at this track, coming from off the pace.

After that the gelding was seen five times in England chasing home Palace Pier in the Group One Lockinge Stakes and Queen Anne Stakes, finishing fourth both times.

A step down to a Group Three had him only beaten by a quickly improving Saeed Bin Suroor runner in Real World and that form is fairly decent.

He then put in two lesser runs at Haydock in the Superior Mile and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with the latter event seeing to many special talents to compete with.

Given a month off he returned in the Bahrain International at Sakhir and sat huge odds went on to take the event from Barney Roy, with a superb late sweeping run.

Although he does bring some negatives with his age, he loves this trip, track and is mostly consistent, especially at this grade.

The final pick of the afternoon from us comes in the Group Two Al Fahidi Fort over seven furlongs and we are giving another chance to La Barrosa for Charlie Appleby.

The fast ground loving Group Three winner that lost his way slightly last term but was a narrow second in the Craven Stakes on debut and getting back to that form makes him a player.

Having not been seen since June he had his first ever run in Meydan over a mile and he finished a fair third in the Zabeel Trophy.

He should now be bang on for this event and the drop to seven furlongs looks more of a positive than a negative.