Meydan Betting Preview January 9, 2014 Pt 2

The Longines Dolce Vita is the next race up on the card and this 7f dash on the Tapeta boasts some runners just looking to make a breakthrough after knocking on the door for quite some time. There is a respectable field lining up for this one and you can expect a full eighteen runners in one of the most impressive-looking races on the card from a betting perspective. 

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One of the more fascinating entries here is Proud Possibility, who is by Tale of the Cat and lines up for Niels Petersen, who represents Norway at the carnival this year. He probably won’t take a huge amount of money but represents an interesting option as he is relatively lightly-raced and has run well in every race he has lined up in - going off as the betting choice each time in his native country. 

If he can handle the heat and the ground, he could be a real coup for a yard that would love nothing more than to kick the carnival off in style. 

Ocean Tempest lines up for John Ryan’s yard and he has rattled off a steady succession of quality performances in England after switching over to the turf after some efforts on the main synthetic strip at Kempton. He’ll be looking for his fourth score on the bounce and, even though this is a considerable step up in class for him, he has a good chance because he’s one of those horses that just knows how to find the line at the right time. 

Many of his recent victories were by short margins, but he could produce some real magic here if he gets a clean trip on the run-in. 

Following that is the listed Singspiel Stakes, which is a 1m1f contest with a number of contenders looking to compete here. This one may be a case of following the late money as many in this race don’t have a huge amount of recent form to work with, though there are a few who come in with a few recent wins under their belts. 

One potential selection here is Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Derbaas, who is by Seeking The Gold out of a Storm Cat mare. He remains a full horse and will have some good possibilities of studding in the United States somewhere when he finishes up his career. He’s been in decent recent form and has some wins at Abu Dhabi over the past while. He didn’t really pull off much last year at the Carnival but was campaigned at the top level the whole time. 

Keep your eye on him in this race as he has a good chance with a clean trip and you will likely get a decent price on him. 

The likely winner looks to be David Livingston, who lines up for Mike De Kock’s yard. The talented contender is by Galileo and is  Group 3 winner in the UK and a Group 2 winner in Ireland. He defeated Hong Kong Cup winner Akeed Mofeed back in 2011 at the Curragh and clearly can do what it takes to win a race like this if he comes in with a good run. 

He likes to make his move about 2f before the finish so watch as they come around the turn - if he doesn’t get caught up in traffic, he’s got a great shot here. 

The final race of the day (we cover the Al Maktoum Challenge separately) is a really all-over-the-place contest but we are likely to opt for Godolphin’s Complicate, who will be looking for his third win on the bounce and should have every chance shipping in from Australia.