Godolphin's Very Special (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), the UAE highweighted older mare in 2016, made it consecutive G2 Cape Verdi tallies last time going a mile here Jan. 26 and will be looking to add her second G2 Balanchine after taking last year's edition. A sixth-place run in the 1800-metre G1 Dubai Turf on Dubai World Cup Night last March is the only out of the money finish for the Saeed bin Suroor trainee, who ran second in the G1 Falmouth S. returned to Newmarket in July.
The 129-pound highweight faces several foes from her Cape Verdi victory, including runner-up Opal Tiara (Ire) (Thousand Words {GB}), who represents the Michael Channon barn. The G3 Supreme S. heroine outfinished Muffri'Ha (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), who, previous to her Cape Verdi third, was coming off a winning three-race sequence, among them the G3 Darley S. at Newmarket Oct. 8.
Roger Varian's lightly raced 2015 G3 Sceptre S. victress Realtra (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), seventh in the Cape Verdi, returns too. Successful in a 1400-metre Deauville all-weather contest Dec. 28, her first racecourse appearance since the Sceptre in October of 2015, the grey should improve with another race under her belt.
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