Thursday's G2 Cape Verdi S. at Meydan will see a showdown between a pair of European shippers both coming off stakes wins late last year. The highest-rated mare in the race is Si Luna (Ger) (Kallisto {Ger}), who rides a two-race win streak into this local debut and was last seen winning the G3 Prix de Flore at Saint-Cloud Nov. 1. The 7-year-old, however, drops back to a mile, a distance over which she lost all four tries last year. Swedish raider Icecapada (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), on the other hand, won Taby's Listed Lanwades Stud S. going a mile Sept. 20 and added the Listed Stockholm Fillies & Mares S. over 10 furlongs when last seen Oct. 18.
Those mares will have to contend with some rivals with races under their girths this season, one of those being More Aspen (More Than Ready), the upset winner of the Listed Singspiel S. over a furlong longer than this Jan. 14. Mike de Kock saddles Sheikh Hamdan's Almashooqa (Aus) (Bernardini), who was beaten 19 lengths when sixth in UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Jan. 14 but, like all de Kock runners, should be considered to improve with the race under her belt. The 3-year-old was making her first start off the trip from South Africa there and has strong form in her home country, having finished second in South Africa's G1 Golden Slipper last July.
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