Familiar Rivals Do 'Batl' For Rashidiya

Mike de Kock and Saeed bin Suroor have won 13 of the 17 runnings of the G2 Al Rashidiya S. between them, and the trainers will once again do battle in Thursday's renewal. Bin Suroor, who is responsible for five of those wins in the Godolphin blue, saddles Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in search of an early season double after the 4-year-old entire won the G3 Singspiel S. over this 1800 metre track and trip on Jan. 11. De Kock's Light the Lights (SAf) (Western Winter) was back in seventh that day, but he won a handicap upped to 2000 metres on the turf last weekend.

De Kock also sends out the intriguing Al Sahem (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}) for his local debut. The 4-year-old won the G1 S A Derby last May in his native South Africa when trained by Sean Tarry before finishing second in the G1 Daily News 2000 and in the G1 Durban July when last seen on July 1. De Kock said, as is custom with his first-up runners out of quarantine, “Al Sahem will improve for the run, but is pleasing us at home and is a nice horse for an international campaign, hopefully including Hong Kong. We have left [first-call rider] Christophe [Soumillon] on Light The Lights, who is obviously in good shape having won his second start and should be thereabouts.”

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