Seemar’s North America impresses again to win Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 at Meydan

Ridden by Richard Mullen, the son of Dubawi took the evening’s feature race sponsored by Al Naboodah Allied Products Division by a comfortable margin of nearly three lengths.

A busy evening at Meydan also saw Godolphin’s Estihdaaf win the UAE 2000 Guineas, whilst there was a treble hat-trick of victories for the trainer-jockey duo of Charlie Appleby and William Buick.

With a purse of $450,000 up for grabs, all eyes were on the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 and it was North America with Mullen at the helm who controlled matters from start to finish.

Run over 1900 metres on the dirt North America struck the front from the outset and never looked back, winning with ease by two and half lengths from New Trails (with Connor Beasley aboard) and Cosmo Charlie (Pat Dobbs) in second and third respectively. Investment (Pat Cosgrave), Etijaah (Jim Crowley) and Second Summer (Royston Ffrench) completed the order of finish.

Last year, the now 7-year-old lost an epic battle with subsequent Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow by a neck in the race before going on to defeat that rival handily in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3. North America now has the option of going on to defend said title or wait for the Dubai World Cup.

This victory was his seventh from 11 dirt tries and 17 races overall and follows an even more dominant victory in last month’s Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 over 1600 metres.

Speaking afterwards, Mullen said: “He is a bit like his jockey, improving with age.

“A lot was made out of his (dominant) first run and it is hard for a horse to replicate what he did. Yes, he was visibly impressive and I always had it in the back of my mind that I thought he would win this race, but I didn’t think he would do it in the manner in which he did.

It is very hard for a horse to back that up. A lot of it was freshness and a lot of it was obviously adrenaline.

“He is a top-class horse and he likes the surroundings,” Mullen continued. “He has a beautiful stride and I think that is what kills a lot of the other horses off. His stride pattern is so different to the others; just half-pacing around there.

“That was phase one and phase two complete and now two more to go or maybe just one. We will sit down with the boss and speak to the owner and see if we skip Round 3 or freshen him up and go to the big night. He is going in the right direction.”

The earlier Group 3 $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas was something of an easy procession for Godolphin’s Estihdaaf and jockey Christophe Soumillon.

Run over 1600 metres on the dirt surface, the eventual winner may have been slowly away but was encouraged to lead and take advantage of the number one stall which once in front it did with some aplomb.

The 3-year-old travelled well before shaking off heavy favourite Walking Thunder, ridden by Connor Beasley, and handing trainer Saeed bin Suroor a seventh victory in the race. Walking Thunder stayed on for second place but the five and a half lengths difference emphasises the ease of victory. The late-running Danish invader Red Cactus (ridden by Carlos Lopez) took third with Group 3 winner Sporting Chance (under Pat Cosgrave) was fourth.

In addition to those key races, there were a series of handicaps on the card with potential Dubai World Cup night implications.

Godolphin took out the top two spots of the $175,000 Al Naboodah Honeywell Partnership handicap as Dubhe beat Red Galileo for his third success in seven starts.

Run over a huge 3200 metres on turf – over the same course and distance as the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup – William Buick guided Dubhe to a four length success over the Bin Suroor-trained runner-up ridden by Soumillon

Appleby and Buick made it a double in the $135,000 Al Naboodah Travel handicap which looked competitive on paper, but was ultimately won comfortably by Nordic Lights.

The four-year-old was soon in front in the 1800 metre contest on turf with Buick seemingly happy to bide his time before committing for home early in the straight when the pair shot clear and never looked likely to be caught. Race favourite Desert Fire was second albeit two and a quarter lengths behind with Baroot in third just over a length further back.

Trainer and jockey had to wait until the final race of the evening, the Al Naboodah Cargo handicap, to wrap up their treble for the evening.

The 1400 metre encounter again on turf and the $135,000 prize money was secured thanks to Mubtasim who proved too good for the other 12 contenders, winning by three-quarters of a length from Poet’s Society in second and Freescape in third.

Wrapping up the remaining two races on the card, a non-carnival race, the 1400 metre Al Naboodah Commercial Group maiden opened proceedings and was won in decent fashion by Tabarak.

Having been sent straight to the front by jockey Royston Ffrench, the winner was never headed and came in a steady two lengths clear of race favourite Midnight Sands, with Karaginsky a distant third almost ten lengths back from the first two home.

The penultimate race of the evening was the Al Naboodah Automotive Division handicap which was won by the Fawzi Nass-trained Mazzini.

Despite being last out of the stalls, jockey Adrie de Vries steered Mazzini to a two and half length success in the 1200 metre contest on the turf to follow up his victory in a 1000 metre turf handicap a fortnight ago. A course and distance prep for the $2 million Al Quoz Sprint on Dubai World Cup night, the race produced a decent runner-up effort from High on Life who simply could not go with the winner, with Dream Today also trailing by a further length and half in third.

The next racing at Meydan is next Thursday, 14 February, with the 2019 season’s seventh meeting of the Dubai World Cup Carnival.