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Dubai Carnival Betting: Raihana Can Land Odds in Al Fahidi Fort at Meydan

It is week number six for the ever popular Dubai Carnival at Meydan with a seven race card starting at 2.25 pm and which will be screened LIVE on Sky TV. The highlight of the meeting is undoubtedly the Group Two, Al Fahidi Fort which has often been a good pointer for the Dubai Duty Free in the past, with two of its winners going on to claim the prestigious Group One on Dubai Gold Cup night. For this renewal the Mike De Kock trained Raihana has been made the clear favourite with odds of 2/1 available from Paddy Power. and is expected by many to follow up from her excellent victory last week in the Dubai Excellence Trophy.

The race over one mile on the turf has attracted a field of 12 runners, which includes a De Kock second runner, Our Giant, currently a 10/1 chance, who like his stablemate has already won at the Carnival this year but that came on the Tapeta and over six furlongs. The stable have been looking to step the eight year old up to a mile and believe that this race is the perfect opportunity to do so; Raihana however looks the much better prospect of the two.

After spending much of the winter in Australia, Raihana returned to Dubai fully refreshed. In last week’s race she was held up towards the rear by jockey Christophe Soumillon until just over two furlongs out when he pressed the button. She responded perfectly moving in top gear before winning with plenty in hand from the Marco Botti trained Fanunalter. It was a performance which she should be able to emulate this week. It should also be noted that De Kock has won this race three times in the past.

Hearts Of Fire, currently a 6/1 shot will be racing for the first time since last September and for the first time at Meydan. However, he comes to the race with a solid reputation, earned after a string of consistent runs at Group level, including a third place behind the great Canford Cliffs in the St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last June. He has since moved from the Pat Eddery stable to that of Ibrahim Al Malki and this will be his debut run for his new connections.

Next in the betting come the Hamdan Al Maktoum owned pair of Snaafy and Derbaas, who are both listed at 8/1 with PaddyPower. On best form both would be in with a big chance, they each come to the race on the back of wins, Snaafy having won the Jebel Ali Mile a fortnight ago and Derbaas won the Falcon Lounge Trophy on this course in January which gave him a straight hat trick of wins at Meydan. Punters will realise the significance of jockey Richard Hills electing to ride course specialist Derbaas in preference to the much higher rated Snaafy who will be ridden by Tadhg O’Shea.

Of the rest there may be a semblance of a chance for the Luca Cumani entry, Mabait, he has been in great form at home but he is badly drawn on the wide outside and will need jockey, Kieren Fallon to be at his best to get him into the race early. He is a 12/1 shot with most Bookmakers. Invisible Man, trained by Saeed Bin Suroor is weighted to finish closer to Derbaas after finishing fourth behind him in the Falcon Lounge Trophy last month. He is currently an 12/1 shot but with Frankie on board there is always a possibility of a place which could interest each way punters.

Al Fahidi Fort Betting

2/1 Raihana
6/1 Hearts Of Fire
8/1 Snaafy
8/1 Derbaas
10/1 Our Giant
10/1 Mabait
12/1 Thai Haku
12/1 Invisible Man
16/1 Bushman
20/1 Le Drakkar
25/1 Silverside
25/1 Finjaan

Odds provided by Paddy Power.com

Posted: Thursday, 17th February 2011
Author: Rodney Wise
Tags: meydan racecourse, raihana, mike de kock, paddypower,

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