Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin enjoyed a lucrative return to the Dubai carnival last week, with Frosted (Tapit) and Confrontation (War Pass) winning feature races, and on Thursday he saddles the horse he described as his “most likely” winner at the carnival, 'TDN Rising Star' Marking (Bernardini), in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint. The son of Grade I winner Seventh Street (Street Cry {Ire}) will be making just his fourth start Thursday. He broke his maiden at Belmont at first asking in September before taking an Aqueduct allowance by 5 1/2 lengths Nov. 4, and lost his unbeaten record when second only to the Eclipse sprint champion Runhappy (Super Saver) in the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Dec. 26. Marking will be dropping down to six furlongs for the first time.
“When we arrived we actually thought Marking was the most likely of our four Godolphin horses to win,” McLaughlin said. “He is dropping in trip, which is a slight query, but he is a very nice horse, we think, and one who should cope with the sprint trip, but could stretch out beyond a mile.”
The lightly raced Marking will have to contend with a seasoned veteran in the form of track and trip specialist Reynaldothewizard (Speightstown), a former G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner who has won all three starts at Meydan since the switch to dirt last year. The 10-year-old gelding was the first-up winner of the Listed Dubawi S. over this course and distance Jan. 14, and regular rider Richard Mullen said, “He seems in great form. He is not the easiest to gauge at home as he is far from an exuberant worker, but he has been full of himself, which has to be a good sign. We could have been drawn better but he tends to get behind early on anyway and there looks to be plenty of pace in the race, which will suit him. It is a stronger race than the one he won last time, but hopefully he has a good chance.”
One who does boast a win over Reynaldothewizard is Hong Kong's Rich Tapestry (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who bested the veteran gelding in the 2014 G3 Mahab Al Shimaal over the Tapeta before finishing second to Sterling City (Aus) (Nadeem {Aus}) in the G1 Golden Shaheen. Rich Tapestry won Santa Anita's GI Sprint Championship later that year and returned to Meydan last year to be third in the Golden Shaheen, but will have to rebound from a flat last of 13 in the G1 Hong Kong Sprint Dec. 13, when he came up empty in the stretch after contesting the pace.
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