All eyes will be on Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) as he goes for a repeat success in Saturday's G2 Dubai City Of Gold at Meydan Racecourse. Roger Varian used the corresponding race last year as a precursor to his win in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night, when he beat Japanese dual Classic winner Duramente (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) in comfortable fashion. Sheikh Mohammed Obaid's colt added a further two top-level wins to his CV when he won the G1 Investec Coronation Cup at Epsom in June and the G1 Juddmonte International at York in August. However, he did end his 2016 campaign on a slightly underwhelming note when he finished sixth behind Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) when favourite for the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly in October. On ratings he has 9lbs in hand of his nearest rival, so connections will be hoping and expecting for a successful resumption of his campaign.
“He is very well and, I would say, at exactly the same stage in his preparation as he was 12 months ago,” said Varian. “He worked very nicely on Wednesday and we could not be more pleased with him.”
Godolphin field four of the 10 runners in their bid to maintain their excellent Carnival to date and the highest rated of the quartet is Prize Money (GB) (Authorized {Ire}). Saeed Bin Suroor's 4-year-old signed off his 2016 British campaign with a win in the November H. at Doncaster and he made a promising return when second to Gold Trail (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in a Meydan handicap on Jan. 26. He built on that display when defying a rating of 114 to win a similar race over Saturday's course and trip when he accounted for two re-opposing rivals in Rembrandt Van Rijn (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) and Dylan Mouth (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}). Marco Botti's Dylan Mouth, a triple Group 1 winner when trained in Italy by Botti's brother Stefano, is showing definite signs of a return to form but even at his peak he has 15 lengths to make up on Postponed when they last clashed in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot in 2015.
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