Al Basti Handicap at Meydan
- By A.J. Ryder on November 24, 2011 19:57 GMT
With the weather turning colder in the Northern Hemisphere, the racing season in Dubai begins to kick off in earnest with Meydan Racecourse playing host to a very interesting day of action tomorrow. The feature looks to be the Al Basti Handicap at 2:05 and we're down to a quality field of 12 thanks to a number of late withdrawals.
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Dubai racing is always an interesting prospect as many of the contenders aren't used to racing there or have accomplished much of their career racing on other continents.
Al Burkaan comes into the race as the betting favourite with a very reasonable 4/1 price tag on the back of some solid performances this year and a very sharp prep at Abu Dhabi just about a month ago. He finished second by a slim head with a low weight in a fifteen-strong handicap. Prior to that he'd taken a solid handicap contest at Newmarket and captured a race at Catterick.
Still lightly-raced and only three-years-old, he'll be able to come on a bit from that last one and should be sharp two-off the freshening.
Trust N Dustan is a local contender who has put in some good shifts but just hasn't been able to find the line during 2011. His 6/1 price shows that punters have confidence in him but he looks one for the lower part of the exotics ticket as opposed to a win-only selection.
Doon Kalal is a very reasonable 8/1 and returns after being off the track since September of last year. He is 2/3 lifetime but he is a really unknown quantity at this point. Could it be fate that his sire is Dubai Destination? A significant gamble on a horse that will likely need the race seems to be underway if his price holds.
Another Dubai Destination gelding is set to kick off here with Skycruiser looking strong at an 11/2 price tag. He just took a race at Meydan two weeks ago and looked sharp – winning by 3.5 lengths.
