Recent Dubai World Cup Carnival winner Law Of Peace stars in a field of eight in the third edition of the Graduate Stakes, sponsored by Nakheel, the feature race at Meydan Racecourse on Thursday.
The 1600m turf event is confined to horses purchased at the recent Racing In Dubai Sales.
A three-time winner for trainer Bhupat Seemar and owner Naser Askar, AED120,000 purchase Law Of Peace reverts to the turf after winning a mile dirt handicap just last week.
His rivals include stablemate Bosphorus, a narrow winner of a turf maiden on local debut last time out, and the Ahmad Bin Harmash-trained First Winter, who drops in trip having run well in second over 2000metres last month.
“Law Of Peace is coming off a very nice win just last week,” said Seemar. “This race is maybe coming a bit quick, but it’s the end of the season so we thought we’d give it a go.”
Of Bosphorus, he added: “He won his last start, a maiden, which surprised us a bit as we thought it would be too short. We think he’ll appreciate the extra distance on Thursday.”
Musabbeh Al Mheiri saddles Law Of Nature who has his first start for the trainer having left Helal Alalawi.
“He’s just come to our stable and he’s a little bit weak, but he looks a nice horse,” said the Oasis Stable trainer. “He’s done most of his racing at Jebel Ali, where he also won once. This is a nice race, so we thought we’d take a chance and give him a first run on the turf here.”
The card has two races worth AED95,000, the first of which is the Club Vista Mare Handicap, over 1900metres on dirt. Course and distance winner Rare Ninja, trained by Salem Bin Ghadayer, is among those to beat here, although Woodditton, successful over 2200metres two weeks’ ago, also takes his chance. Al Mheiri runs Fire Group, who drops in grade markedly having finished tenth of 12 behind Hot Rod Charlie in G2 Maktoum Challenge Round 2 last time out.
“He’s a horse we think quite highly off,” said the trainer. “He didn’t really get into the race last time out, but he’s shown he’s better than that in his work. We’re hoping he runs well back in handicap company.”
The other AED95,000 race is a competitive 1200metre turf event, the Palm Fountain Handicap, in which seven line up, including course dirt winners Vasari and Rich And Famous.
The card gets underway at 16h00 with The Pointe Conditions event, for three-year-old non-winners of two. The filly Shadzadi looks to have leading claims here for Seemar and jockey Tadhg O’Shea, having run sixth in the G3 UAE Oaks last time. Her rivals could be smart, however, and include a pair of Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Shadwell runners, Monaadah and Moqadar, both of whom are making their debuts.
Another popular choice on Pick 6 forms is likely to be Alhzeem, who lines up in the 1800m Palm West Beach Maiden, on turf. An eye-catching third here on debut, the four-year-old represents trainer Nicholas Bachalard, who said: “Alhzeem ran a good race first time out and the increase in distance should suit him, so we’re hoping for a good run.”
Bachalard is triple-handed in the closing Palm Tower Handicap, over 1600metres on turf. Nibraas, who broke his maiden at Abu Dhabi in January, is the pick of stable jockey Richie Mullen over stablemates Tahdeed and Moorbik, who makes his local debut.
“Nibraas ran well at Abu Dhabi and should like the extra distance; he’s trained forwardly since that run,” said the trainer. “Moorbik came from William Haggas with a decent reputation. We’re adding blinkers as we felt he’d benefit from that.
“Tahdeed had a good run last time. It’s tougher competition this time but he has a good draw, so hopefully, he can use that to his advantage.”
