Meydan Racecourse Betting Tips for November 11

The domestic horse racing season is in full swing at the immaculate Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, and we’ll be examining the six races on the card for November 11.

The opening race runs at 18:35 over the Tapeta surface and we’ll be siding with the rather well-adjusted NAJEM AL KHALIJ (Bibi De Carrere) who has Royston Ffrench aboard for the trip. He’s accomplished at the 1600m (7f) distance and he boasts a solid partnership with the jockey.

The pair have combined for a score at the distance and just missed out in their final race of the season last year which also ran at 7f. He’ll be looking to deploy some tactical speed here and should be mid-pack throughout the bulk of the race. Hopefully we won’t see traffic trouble and the only real question mark is how much he takes to the Tapeta.

The general consensus last season at Meydan was that Tapeta generally worked well with turf runners and he’s as accomplished on turf as he is over dirt. Look for Saifaldin Deeb to get things off to a good start today.

The second race runs at 19:15 and this race finds us in maiden company with a number of talented-looking three year-olds set for their first time starts. There is a serious lack of official ratings in this one and we’ll actually be staying away from the debutantes, choosing to go with mysterious Brazilian contender ENERGIA CENTRAL (Fahim) who has been there-or-thereabouts in his only two previous runs where he earned 90s on turf and dirt.

A versatile runner, he’ll probably enjoy the cut back in trip to 1400m from the 1600m he’s run at previously.

The Arabian Adventures handicap runs at 19:55 and there is plenty to admire about Irish invader KILT ROCK (Giant’s Causeway). He’s been campaigned fairly heavily this season on all weather and he’s only finished outside the top three twice in his past eight races.

He’ll look to close especially hard and you reckon that the stretch run at Meydan suits his style of running. If he gets some room to aim at, it’s going to be difficult to contain him. Having O’Shea aboard for the trip does no harm to this bet.

The Emirates Sky Cargo Handicap runs at 20:30 and we’ve got another quality race with runners from all corners of the world lining up. We’ll be siding with FANTASTIC DUBAI (Storm Cat) in this one and he comes into this one boasting a 51222 lifetime record.

Unraced in 2010, he is a specialist at the distance and it’s important to remember that in two of those three second-place finishes he was headed at the very end of the race. He’s demonstrated a fairly explosive closing ability and, again, that should serve this contender well on the run-in.

The Emirates Holidays Handicap kicks off at 21:05 and this is one of the two feature races on the day. This race is probably one of the trickiest on this card and there are a number of contenders here with relatively indifferent track records.

The best bet seems to be William Buick and DAHTEER (Bachir). He’s won at the distance over dirt in a number of handicaps at Jebel and his partnership with Buick looks a better reference than what some of the others are boasting here. Tough one, this, but he looks to be coming into form at the right time.

The final race of the day is the 21:40 Emirates Airline Handicap and this is a longer race going 1900m (9.5f) over the Tapeta surface. Robert Hills and PASCAL (Menifee) look the selection here and there isn’t a huge amount of form to back this one up, but there isn’t much form to write home about on any of these contenders.

He hasn’t won since 2008 when taking the Allied Forces Stakes at Belmont Park but he boasts the reference of a run over the Meydan surface and that’s more than many others can talk about here. The variable is that his fourth place finish over the Meydan surface was on a sharp step up in grade and actually turned out to be a pretty solid race for him. Look for Pascal to show his experience over the Meydan surface with a high-stakes score here.