Postponed ‘as good as ever’

There might have been total confusion in Hol­lywood on Sunday as to whether La La Land or Moonlight should be awarded the Oscar as film of the year, but there is no doubt which equine star will command centre-stage in Dubai on Super Saturday, Europe’s top middle-distance horse POSTPONED.

In other exciting news that has just dropped, Arrogate, the top-rated thoroughbred on the globe, has been given the green light to run in the $US10m Dubai World Cup at Meydan on 25 March fol­lowing a pleasing workout at San­ta Anita on Monday.

Until Postponed’s halo slipped in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Tri­omphe, in which he finished a disappointing fifth behind Found, he had looked invincible, rattling off six consecutive wins, which included the City of Gold and Sheema Classic both run here at Meydan.

The Coronation Cup at Epsom and Juddmonte International at York are also on Postponed’s CV, and the word from Roger Varian in Newmarket is that his classy stable star is “as good as ever”.

As with last year, Postponed, who will relish the fast turf course, has thrived in the Dubai sunshine and connections have chosen the same prep-race as they did 12 months ago as they build him up towards a defence of his Sheema title on World Cup Night (25 March).

Europe can also mop up the dir­hams in the Grade 1 Jebel Hatta, with DECORATED KNIGHT, who made light of a 205-day absence to win the Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield, fancied to enhance his Dubai Turf prospects.

That Lingfield race was on Pol­ytrack and Decorated Knight will be even better on the grass, and, being so well bred – by Galileo and very closely related to Glenea­gles – it is no surprise that trainer Roger Charlton gave last week’s Winter Derby a swerve to take advantage of an early boost for a stallion career by taking in what looks a weak Grade 1.

Doug Watson’s SECOND SUM­MER can gain revenge on Furia Crusada in round three of the Maktoum Challenge. He has only a nose to find on their last meet­ing.

Mike de Kock, who was delight­ed with Mubtaahij’s comeback second in the Curlin Handicap last week and reckons the race will put him spot on for another crack at the World Cup, has al­ways thought a bit of FAWREE, who impressed when winning his maiden here and can take the jump in class in his stride by land­ing the Listed Al Bastikiya

All eyes will be on the popular veteran Reynaldothewizard in the Grade 3 Mahab Al Shimal, but the 11-year-old sprinter might be pushed to confirm recent form with MUARRAB, who travels so well in his races and looked in top order out on the track earlier this week.

Dubai World Cup Night is little more than three weeks away, and Godolphin’s Beautiful Romance, a Group 2 winner in Australia at last year’s Melbourne Carnival, clinched her place in the field for the Grade 1 Dubai Gold Cup when beating French challenger Vazirabad in the Grade 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy at last week’s Car­nival meeting at Meydan.

This pair, plus the third, Sheikhzayedroad, will renew rivalry in the Gold Cup, which Vazirabad won last year, and Godolphin will also be fancying

their chances in the UAE Derby with Top Score, who proved too good for fellow Al Quoz inmates Fly At Dawn and Really Special in the Grade 3 Meydan Classic.

My Newmarket mole came out of the ground this week, being very bullish about the chance of Hugo Palmer’s newcomer HAR­LOW in the 1600m maiden at Newcastle today.

Palmer has a 7-22 strike-rate at Gosforth Park, and Harlow, who has been catching the eye on the gallops, is bred for the Tapeta surface, being a son of America’s triple Group 1 winning dirt cham­pion Harlan’s Holiday.

There was only one horse who took the honours on racing’s world stage last weekend, that phenomenal Aussie mare Winx.

With the Randwick track in Sydney saturated after torrential rain and barely raceable, trainer Chris Waller was “walking his box” all morning as he considered withdrawing Winx from the Chip­ping Norton Stakes.

However, acknowledging that the mare is “the people’s horse” Down Under, Waller threw cau­tion to the wind and was reward­ed with another facile success from Winx, who clocked up her 15th straight victory, 10 of which have carried Group 1 status.

Connections have resisted the temptation to do a Black Caviar and test the temperature of Eu­ropean waters at Royal Ascot, so Winx, who has a third Cox Plate at the end of the year as her ultimate target, will now take in the George Ryder en route to a defence of her Queen Elizabeth Stakes crown on 8 April before enjoying a well-earned mid-season break.

Winx kicked off a memorable 24 hours for leading Aussie jockey Hugh Bowman, 36.

Bowman, who is as famous at Sha Tin as he is in Sydney, barely had to break sweat on Winx and was able to ease off in the last 200m, but 24 hours later he had to work much harder to get Werther home in the final stride in the HK$10m Hong Kong Gold Cup.

It required all Bowman’s strength and experience to get Horse of the Year Werther up on the line, having been briefly caught in a pocket turning for home, but his mount, who runs next in the Dubai Turf at Meydan on World Cup Night, dug deep to reel in the evergreen Blazing Speed, winning by a short head.

John Moore, who trains Werther, topped up his celebra­tions when going on to mop up the other Grade 1 race on the card, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup on Helene Paragon, who could also be heading for the Dubai Turf.

The US$1m Emir’s Trophy, the richest race in Qatar, produced a shock result when local outsider Chopin, who was an also-ran in Ruler of the World’s Derby in 2013 when trained in Germany, made all the running to earn a shot at the US$10m Dubai World Cup.

Finally, George Baker remains stable but in intensive care in Switzerland after his mount Boo­merang Bob suffered a fatal fall on the frozen snow at the “white turf” meeting at St Moritz, though happily a subsequent CT scan re­vealed a positive diagnosis for the UK-based rider who is fourth in the jockeys list for 2017.