Eleven have been declared and it would be hard to rule out many in a competitive looking heat in which the weights are headed by Modern History, one of three in the race to be saddled by Musabah Al Muhairi.
Apprentice George Buckell retains the ride after the pair landed a 1600m handicap on the Al Ain dirt on Boxing Day.
Equally effective on turf, Buckell’s mount should be staying on over a trip he has only tried once before, when well beaten in the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint on dirt.
Buckell said: “He won well last time and the runner-up has won since. He has plenty of speed so should certainly not be outpaced and the faster they go, the more chance his stamina will come into play.”
Al Muhairi’s other two runners Taayel and Ebn Arab are both owned by Sheikh Hamdan, as is the Ali Rashid Al Raihe-trained Kasb.
The owners retained jockeys, Paul Hanagan and Dane O’Neill, choose to ride Taayel and Kasb respectively, with Fernando Jara aboard Ebn Arab.
Al Raihe also saddles Day Of Conquest, the mount of stable jockey, Tadhg O’Shea. He will be having only his fourth UAE start having won two of his nine outings in the UK.
O’Shea said: “He has not had much luck so far and you can ignore his last run. He is working well and should go close.”
Al Raihe has enjoyed a great season thus far, as has Doug Watson who relies on Charlie Croker, the mount of Pat Dobbs.
He has only run once for the yard, showing promise on the dirt at Jebel Ali. Watson said: “He is a nice new horse in the yard and is in great form at home. Back on turf we expect a big run.”
Another in his first season locally and likely to appreciate the return to turf is Roossey, to be ridden by Chris Hayes for Dhruba Selvaratnam.
The meeting concludes with a 1600m turf handicap with 10 set to face the starter, including Udododontu, the only Godolphin runner on the card.
Trained by Saeed bin Suroor and the mount of Harry Bentley, he will be having his first outing since Royal Ascot when beaten a head in a valuable handicap. Previously trained by Richard Guest, this will be his first outing in the Godolphin blue and his new connections will be hoping to win this before heading to races at the Carnival.
Bin Suroor said: “He is a horse we like and has been working well.”
Watson saddles Marching Time and Shebebi, both owned by Sheikh Hamdan with Hanagan electing to ride the former.
