By Alan Carasso
Florida shipper X Y Jet (Kantharos) entered Saturday's G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen as one of the night's bankers for many a punter, given the dominance he had shown over the course of a five-race winning streak amassed over the course of the winter at Gulfstream Park. No foreign-bred sprinter had annexed the Shaheen in its previous runnings on conventional dirt since Sheikh Mohammed's Mudallel (GB) (Machiavellian) scored for locally based trainer Dhruba Selvaratnam in 1998, but Muarrab (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) put an end to the streak with a gutsy defeat of X Y Jet following a frenetic final-furlong throwdown. Morawij (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) made some ground from the back of the pack to finish third.
Saturday, Meydan, Middle East
DUBAI GOLDEN SHAHEEN SPONSORED BY GULF NEWS-G1, $2,000,000, MEY, 3-26, NH3yo/up & SH3yo/up, 1200m, 1:10.59, ft.
1–&MUARRAB (GB), 126, g, 7, by Oasis Dream (GB)#tot">Oasis Dream (GB)
1st Dam: Licence to Thrill (GB), by Wolfhound
2nd Dam: Crime of Passion (GB), by Dragonara Palace
3rd Dam: Catriona (GB), by Sing Sing (GB)
(280,000gns Ylg '10 TATOCT). O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum; B-Stratford Place Stud (GB); T-Musabah Al Muhairi; J-Paul Hanagan. $1,200,000. Lifetime Record: 24-13-3-2, $1,655,942. *1/2 to Classic Encounter (Ire) (Lujain), GSP-Eng; Group Therapy (GB) (Choisir {Aus}), MGSP-Eng, $154,848; Waveband (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), SW-Eng, $210,609; and Bungle Inthejungle (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), MGSW-Eng, $142,689. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–X Y Jet, 126, g, 4, Kantharos–Soldiersingsblues, by Lost Soldier. ($30,000 RNA Ylg '13 OBSJAN; $56,000 Wlg '13 OBSAUG). O-Rockingham Ranch & Gelfenstein Farm; B-Didier Plasencia (FL); T-Jorge Navarro. $400,000.[bullet ad=”taylor-made-private-sales-grad”][bullet ad=”taylor-made-x-y-jet-congrats”]3–Morawij (GB), 126, g, 6, Exceed and Excel (Aus)–Sister Moonshine (Fr), by Piccolo (GB). (120,000gns Ylg '11 TATOCT). O-Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; B-Dunchurch Lodge Stud Co (GB); T-Dhruba Selvaratnam. $200,000.
Margins: NK, 3 3/4, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Reynaldothewizard, Super Jockey (NZ), Confrontation, Rich Tapestry (Ire), Domineer (GB), Master Kochanwong (Aus). DNF: Kifaah (GB).
Click for the Racing Post result, the AmWager PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Kin to no fewer than six stakes horses under his first dam, Muarrab was bred to be any kind, but never really got a foothold over a variety of racing surfaces in England over the course of the first eight starts of his career, mostly in handicap company for trainer Ed Dunlop. The bay underwent a metamorphosis once shipped off to trainer Musabah al Muhairi in Dubai, and most of his local success came at Jebel Ali, the track with the uphill finish, where Muarrab had posted a remarkable eight wins and a second from nine starts.
Victorious in a six-furlong conditions heat at the facility Nov. 27, he annexed the Listed Garhoud Sprint over this course and distance ahead of the Carnival Dec. 17, but ballooned to fifth behind TDN Rising Star Reynaldothewizard (Speightstown) in the Listed Dubawi S. Jan. 14. Forced to chase Rich Tapestry (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) in the Feb. 11 G3 Al Shindagha Sprint–the race in which Marking (Bernardini) threw James Doyle at the break–Muarrab could not quite reel that one in and settled for second. But, drawn on the fence for the Super Saturday prep in the G3 Mahab al Shimaal three weeks back, Muarrab sped to the lead and they could not catch him over a track that was playing kindly to speed as he accounted for Kifaah (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) by 5 1/4 lengths.
X Y Jet was ever so slightly tardy into stride and quickly recovered to race in a share of the early lead, but that sluggish dispatch had allowed Master Kochanwong (Aus) (Commands {Aus})–having the final start of his career–to shade his every move to the inside as Muarrab attended the pace out deep. Rich Tapestry was kept busy by Gerald Mosse to hold his spot at thEventse fence and the early pace was clocked in :23.54, an extremely sharp early sectional given the lack of a true run-up. The speed remained very much on as they raced around the far turn, none of the trio giving way–at least yet–but Rich Tapestry was the first to call it a day at the paint in upper stretch and the stage was set. X Y Jet fought on very gamely with Muarrab glued to his outside, their strides synched and neither giving an inch, but try as he might, X Y Jet could not resist the persistent Muarrab and dropped a hard-fought decision. Morawij ran on decently for third. The win was the second on the evening for Sheikh Hamdan, whose Af Mathmoon (AE) took out the G1 Dubai Kahayla Classic for Arabians.
“It's great for Sheikh Hamdan to have two winners. He's such a star, this horse,” commented jockey Paul Hanagan. “They went hard and it suited him to sit. The other horse was very hard to pass. It's fantastic.”
The connections of the beaten favorite were hardly dismayed.
“I got beaten fair and square but he's run his heart out,” said his jockey Emisael Jaramillo. “There was no let up from the go and there was no chance to get a breather into him. He still managed to run like a champion. He was very tough to pass and it was only close to the wire that the winner got past. Although he was second he was still a champion to me.”
The race was marred by an incident on the far turn involving Kifaah, who unseated jockey Dane O'Neill.
Muarrab became the 15th Group 1 winner for his sire, and was also represented on the World Cup program by G1 Al Quoz Sprint runner-up Ertijaal (Ire).
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