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Al Maktoum Challenge Round Three Odds: Unlucky Dubai Carnival Draw for Twice Over

Probably the best night so far of the Dubai Carnival gets underway at Meydan racecourse on Thursday evening, with a seven race card that includes three at Grade 2 and two at Grade 3. The race however that holds most interest for UK fans will undoubtedly be the third round of the Grade Two, Al Maktoum Challenge which goes off at 18.05 and features dual Champion Stakes winner, Twice Over. The Henry Cecil trained six year old in fact is favourite to win the race with odds of 4/1 from William Hill.

Henry Cecil trainer of the six year old has expressed some concerns regarding the draw where he has pulled stall number 13 one from the very outside, it is clearly not in his favour and would be enough to put plenty of punters off from backing him. Nonetheless he is in very good form and according to jockey, Tom Queally if his good form is as good as it was when he won his second Champion Stakes last year at Newmarket he should be well in the mix come the finish. Whatever the outcome of the race it will prepare him well for his second tilt at the Dubai World Cup later this month, for which he second favourite with odds generally around the 5/1 mark.

Unfortunately out of the race with a minor bruise on his foot is the Mike De Kock trained, Bold Silvano impressive winner of the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge a month ago. De Kock has said that the injury should not be enough to keep him from challenging for the Dubai World Cup, for which he is favourite to win with odds of 9/2 available from WilliamHill.com.

De Kock will still have two runners in the race, Irish Flame drawn on the wide outside and Musir, who will come from the number one stall from where Bold Silvano won the second Challenge. There is little to choose between the two on merit but with Christophe Soumillon electing to ride the better drawn Musir there is seems little doubt which one is the most likely to win. Musir in fact is likely to go off second favourite to win the race.

One that will improve from his run in the second round of the Challenge will be the Marco Botti trained Gitano Hernando. He finished fifth last month and although he does not have the best draw in Thursday’s race, he will have the considerable presence of Johnny Murtagh on his back. Gitano Hernando was fourth behind Twice Over in last year’s Champions Stakes and finished 6th just over two lengths back from winner, Gloria De Campeao in the Dubai World Cup last year.

It looks certain that Godolphin will have a major say in the race having declared four runners, with three of them drawn on the inside. Frankie Dettori has elected to ride Prince Bishop for Saeed Bin Suroor and has a good draw in stall three. The 4 year old will be making his first appearance since winning a Group Two at Longchamp last October when at the yard of Andre Fabre which was his fourth straight win, form which clearly indicates that he is progressing nicely.

The other three Godolphin runners are all from the yard of Mahmood Al Zarooni and includes Debussy, winner of the Arlington Million last year. His form at Meydan however has been less than impressive finishing tenth in this race 12 months ago and ninth in the Group Two Al Fahidi a fortnight before. He will be ridden by William Buick and is drawn in stall 4. Probably the best of the Al Zarooni contingent is Etched, who finished sixth in the Breeder’s Cup Classic at Churchill Downs last November, this is form which would certainly give him each way chances in this race.

Of the rest Freddie Head has booked Kieran Fallon to ride his four year old Rajsaman who ran Prince Bishop very close in the Group Three, Prix Du Prince D’Orange at Longchamp last September. In that race he showed blistering pace at the finish and would have won if the race was 10 meters longer. He is not to be discounted and has great odds of around 11/1. There have been good reports regarding the form of Richards Kid a Grade One winner last time in the USA and who finished seventh in the 2010 Dubai World Cup.

Al Maktoum Challenge Round Three Odds

4/1 Twice Over
5/1 Musir
13/2 Richards Kid
15/2 Prince Bishop
8/1 Etched
11/1 Rajsaman
12/1 Debussy
12/1 Gitano Hernando
14/1 Mufarrh
16/1 Eavesdropper
18/1 Irish Flame
20/1 Win For Sure
25/1 Haatheq
66/1 Hot Six

All odds kindly supplied by WilliamHill.com, who provide odds for all races at the Dubai Carnival.

Posted: Wednesday, 2nd March 2011
Author: Rodney Wise
Tags: dubai carnival, meydan racecourse, al maktoum challenge, william hill,

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