Ireland have put in a strong performance so far at this Dubai World Cup Carnival and they look primed to add to their success at Meydan Racecourse over the next seven days.
The Emerald Isle is represented by three runners in Saturday night’s Nad Al Sheba Trophy, the Group 3 feature that acts as a springboard to next month’s Dubai Gold Cup.
A week Saturday they will also pepper the Super Saturday card with runners in an effort to extend this season's haul ahead of World Cup night on March 29.
Before the campaign, Ireland had registered 15 wins at the Carnival from 324 runners. It is a poor strike rate but two trainers, David Marnane and Michael Halford, have added seven wins to the leger.
Elleval, the 2013 UAE Derby runner-up, and He’s No Saint have struck for Marnane, while Halford has seen Eastern Rules run twice into the winners’ enclosure, while Russian Soul and Certerach have also made their mark.
Halford had registered only one win from 49 runners in the UAE before this season but saw that experience as crucial to his current success.
“It has been a combination of, the more that we are out here the more that we have learnt,” Halford said.
“Russian Soul and Certerach, in particular, have found it easier to acclimatise second-time around as the racing here last season stood them in good stead.
“We also got to know better what type of horse suits out here.”
Certerach won a handicap over 2,435 metres last month but was reeled in by Excellent Result and Star Empire over nearly 400m further four weeks ago. He will be partnered Saturday night by regular rider Shane Foley.
“The distance suits him,” Halford said. “His last race was a messy race, though, and he was a little further back than was ideal and he used a little too much petrol to get there.
“There is not much between him and the best horses in the race and he is a little older and more mature so hopefully the race will suit him.
“I definitely think he is a candidate for the Dubai Gold Cup.”
Certerach’s fellow Irish runners include Simenon, the globetrotter with an iron constitution from Willie Mullins’s yard in County Carlow, who, in 2013, raced in England, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.
Simenon won two races at Royal Ascot in 2012 within four days of each other and, having finished fourth in the Melbourne Cup and fifth in the Hong Kong Vase, he looks tailor-made for tonight’s test under Ryan Moore, who takes his first ride of the UAE season.
John Oxx’s Saddler’s Rock was seventh in last season’s Dubai Gold Cup behind tonight’s rivals Star Empire, Jutland and the winner, Cavalryman, who will have his first run since August for jockey Silvestre De Sousa and trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, who also runs Statutory.
“Cavalryman has been working well and we are very happy with him,” Bin Suroor said. “Obviously it is his first run and he is going to improve but he should run a good race.”
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