1) GRAND HOMBRE (alt: Fateh Field)

2) BRAVE TIN SOLDIER (alt: Conquest)

3) SOUND THE DRUM (alt: New Freedom)

4) BENNIE BLUE (alt: Clasp)

5) SANBUCH (alt: Young Mick)

6) WITH INTEREST (alt: Third Set)

7) STEPPING UP BEST BET (alt: Furnace)

1. Shopton Lane

2. Lessing

3. Wingbeat

4. Irish Mayhem Nap

5. Sanbuch

6. Kirklees

7. River Tiber

G/L all

Race 1
Art of War (Aamaaq)
Finicius (Pointing North)
Saansaa (Wingbeat)
Clasp (Sgt. Schultz)
Bon Spiel (Far From OLd)
With Interest (Silver Mist)
Akua'ba (Banknote)

Hey gang - I'm the one who runs DubaiRaceNight.com that NTamm referenced earlier. Not a whole lot of the racing boards follow to Dubai, so I'm glad to see you guys are into it.

Whether I can start with the contest here or not is up to you - but anyway...

Shopton Lane (Art of War)
Mojito Royale (Yamal)
Wingbeat (Sarissa)
Irish Mayhem (Bennie Blue)
Sanbuch (Bon Spiel)
Oracle West (Kirklees)
Perfect Season (Akua'Ba)

I'm surprised so many of you like Aamaaq - if he was going to win a race at the Carnival, I thought it was going to be last week when he was second to Glen Nevis in a race that still has me scratching my head. If you watch the replay, you'll see Glen Nevis was literally under a full drive the entire race. Maybe I'm wrong....

Good luck to all!

Welcome aboard Pat, and of course youre included in the Contest. The more the merrier. Your site is fantastic, alot of very useful stuff there. Im particularly interested in seeing what your top 3 things to do in Dubai are (Surely skiing will be one of them??).

wow grand hombre ..9 year old..

In race 3 that should be Sarissa, not Saansaa, I misread my notes...

Shopton Lane was NOT happy with the kickback, he never looked comfortable. It was funny to hear Doug Watson after the Fares victory - basically, he was shocked.

I had a whopping $2 to place on Grand Hombre just to cover myself because of the price and his recent form which was decent...per my race analysis...

"His last race on dirt, a handicap at Nad al Sheba on January 1, 2009, wasn’t terrible and the winner that day, Brave Tin Soldier, came back to finish a good second in a 100+ rated handicap on January 15."

Good luck.

too bad it's Dubai, 60-1 over 40-1

COMPLETED: 81663104083020 DUB #1 $1 Exacta 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,WT,8 <none> $ 10.00 $ 651.20 + $ 641.20

Well, the form has been shot to bits in the first two races. Richard Hills wasn't great (as can be expected on dirt) on Tasteyville in the first. He seemed to go across the line looking a bit lame? He is definitley one to keep the right side of now that he has blown the cobwebs out.

We might as well throw the form books out. Usually you want to be up with the pace on the dirt, but so far the horses finishing off best have all come from a long way back.

The sprints are all a bit different though, where I think the gate draw is most important, anything from the middle to the outer rail is best, and I truly believe the outer is the best. Big City Man was good enough last week to run lively down the center, but Change Alley's late kick on the outer rail holds up to what I've come to expect.

All the jocks I know who ride there every winter say you're best of to be up with the pace on the dirt, as it's usually hard to make it the distance up. The results so far, have been very strange.

Not sure about anyone else, but I couldn't have had any of the winners so far

I think that's definitely true with the routes, although Grand Hombre's monster run int he first was quite odd, as was Glen Nevis last week.

The form during the Winter Racing Challenge was all favoring early speed on the dirt. It's been a bit different at the Carnival.

I have one placing from my four top picks on the day. It's been a rough go so far!

It seems as though if you miss the break from a low draw, you have no chance, but if you hold up towards the outside you have an outstanding chance. Usually (like I have said) I like seeing horses up with the pace on the dirt as they usually keep finding, but not today.

Maybe the recent rain they have had has made a slight difference to the bias on the dirt track.

Hoping for much better with Far From Old who was slightly unlucky last time and hopefully they go a good gallop today.

No gallop again there. Far From Old stayed on late once again, he needs a much better gallop to be at his best.

I did like Age Of Reason, but sadly not as much as I liked Far From Old

Trying to pick these horses by a novice llike me is:zz: :zz: :zz:

I wouldn't worry. I follow the racing in Dubai very closely every year and today has been terrible. Form books thrown away, dirt racing favouring horses off the pace and turf races being run at muddling gallops.

Trying to figure out what is going to be on the pace is hard enough, finding a winner is almost impossible.

A little late but just going through results and thank you, Dynamic Saint!

Cheers to Mr. Watson, esquire. :) :tro:

Apologies if I'm wrong, but I think MMSC is the only one to have had a winner so far. Well done, it's been very very tricky today.