European shippers have a formidable record in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, having taken five of the six runnings of the $6 million race since it was moved to Meydan in 2010, and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid's Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is hard to look past off his dominating win in the track-and-trip G2 Dubai City of Gold S. Super Saturday Mar. 5. That race marked the 5-year-old's first start for trainer Roger Varian after he had won last year's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. and G2 Prix Foy for trainer Luca Cumani, and Varian said Thursday, “He looks to be one of the leading mile-and-a-half horses in the world. He is an exciting horse to have in the yard and it is a privilege for me to have a King George winner in my care.”
“I am very pleased we didn't run him last autumn and we gave him the time to settle in and bed in to his new home,” the Newmarket-based conditioner added. “Since the turn of the year we always planned to give him two runs–in the City Of Gold and in this. He has had a dream preparation and his work has been excellent. Mentally he is tough and uncomplicated.”
Sheikhzayedroad (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was another winner for Britain on the Super Saturday card, surging from midpack to record a visually impressive 3 3/4-length win in the 2810 metre G3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy. The 7-year-old gelding was recording his first win since notching his most important victory to date in the 2014 GI Northern Dancer Turf S. at Woodbine, and the bay reverts to that distance here.
Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners were successful in this with the ill-fated St Nicholas Abbey (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) in 2013, and they bring the last-out G1 Hong Kong Vase winner Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The bay has already proven to be able to take his ability around the globe, having won group races in three different countries, and he has been on his toes in the mornings at Meydan this week.
“If he wasn't like that I would be worried–that is how he is,” said O'Brien's traveling head lad Pat Keating. “He is doing well and in good form. He traveled well and we couldn't be happier.”
The Aga Khan's Dariyan (Fr) (Shamardal) has had the misfortune of chasing home Postponed and Highland Reel in the Hong Kong Vase (when third) and City of Gold (second), and the 4-year-old will be looking to recapture the winning form that saw him take last summer's G2 Prix Eugene Adam for trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre.
The lone renewal of the Sheema Classic in the last six years to have not gone the way of Europe was won by Japan's Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), and given the form of Duramente (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), it would not come as a surprise to see the 4-year-old carry the same Sunday Racing colours to victory. Duramente kicked off a three-race win streak in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) last April and stretched successfully out to this trip to garner the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) six weeks later. The bay shrugged off a nine-month layoff to win the G2 Nakayama Kinen Feb. 28, and trainer Hori Noriyuki said Duramente has settled in well following his first overseas flight.
“His condition is improving as he had a preparation race last month and he will be at his best for the race,” Noriyuki said. “Duramente showed more maturity and worked more relaxed [Thursday]. It is his first trip overseas, and with the different temperature and surroundings, he showed some increased nervousness. However, he has settled into the new surroundings faster than we expected.”
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