Vineyard Haven...
 

is entered for THU at Nad al Sheba. The race is the 2000 Guineas and he'll face fellow Americans Desert Party and Regal Ransom.
Mike de Kock sends out So. Americans Rocks Off and Blues and Rock. So. American's have done very well in this race. Their runners have a big age advantage and the weight shift has meant little.

that public workout will be fun to watch

Nobody moves up like Godolphin.. That Saeed bin Suroor is one gifted horseman..To bad Cannon Shell never got the opportunity to work as his assistant..

It's easy to move-up when you buy all the best horses.

I don't know, they aren't exactly oozing confidence from all the quotes I've seen.

I don't think Suroor is anything special, esp after talking with some US based people who have been involved with some of the former Dubai based horses. VH was my choice 2yo. I had him in the Hopeful and Champagne and I was very disappointed when he went overseas. I hold out no hope for either him or Midshipman in the major US 3yo races.
IMO, deKocks's "4yo's" have a huge edge here.

Not too familiar with the deKocks horses but I just hope they send them here and put them in the hands of Kiaran Mclaughlin.

He feels like a major question mark to me. He's never been two turns before and he used to be trained by Bobby Frankel. It feels like he has nowhere to go but down.

You won't see any horses being transferred from DeKock to McLaughlin I'm afraid.

He's top notch.

... and NY form hasn't held up too well. Hows Munnings & co. been doing?

Not well.

The Godolphin squad end up here with Rick Mettee who never gets his name in the program. If they are Godolphin, Suroor's name gets in the paper. If they get demoted to Darley they go to McLaughlin who may (as Andy will attest) get them ready to flourish at AQU in November. They get wrung out over there.
If Etched had stayed here, he's have given Brown a run for his money in '08. Instead he goes to Dubai and comes back unable to race til late fall.

I'll take a de Kock exacta. No way Suroor improves on Frankel.

de Kock always does well in Dubai. Seldom do horses prosper under Godolphin.

Sure you are.

Irridescence, Eagle Mountain, Archipenko, Oracle West, Greys Inn, Sun Classique, Yard-Arm, Mythical Flight, JJ the Jet Plane...

im just saying, as long as nothing is wrong with Vineyard Haven, the purpose of this little race is a workout.

The sheikh and family seem to own nearly all the horses in these Dubai races, this is one of the Sheikhs prize buys as a means to the end of winning the Kentucky Derby on his own terms. Dekock and all the foreigners who get to participate have a good thing going, getting to be part of things in Dubai.
If his infamous left-front:rolleyes: ... or if he has just turned out to be a dud, that is a different story, but I wouldn't expect that...
This should be a workout/training prep.

I was talking about the two particular he is entering in the 2000 Guineas in Dubai, Rocks Off and Blues and Rock

Sorry, I'm a moron. :D

Rocks Off is a South African G1 winner. Blues and Rock is places in So. American G1's. Both have run already, missing the board in the Ford Trophy 2 weeks ago.

If he is a legit ky derby candidate, he should win this!

no your not. I learn a lot from you when it comes to international racing

Just to let Andy, and everyone know, this race is ONE turn. 1600 metres(about 1 mile) and he will carry 55kg or 121 lbs gets 10 lbs from Southern Hemisphere 3yos in the race. He has been training at the Godolphin Stables on Tapeta footings surface, and will run on Dirt Thursday night at Nad Al Sheba, post time 10:05 PM (1:05 PM Eastern).
I know you can watch and wager on all the Dubai International Racing Carnival races on OTB, but you can't at Aqueduct, or your NYRA Account. Not even the the late on the card races in Dubai after the windows open at Aqueduct. I wonder why that is?

I thought Nad Al Sheba was destroyed and thier new racecourse is Meydan

http://www.meydan.ae/meydan-racecourse.asp

Now that is a racetrack!!!

Meydan is scheduled to open for the 2010 season.

Thanks for the info.

For Andy and everyone, this race is ONE turn at 1600 metres (about 1 mile) VH will carry 55kg or 121 lbs geting 10 lbs from Southern Hemisphere 3yos. He has been training at the Godolphin Stables on Tapeta Footings, and will run on dirt at Nad Al Sheba at 10:05 PM Thursday night(1:05 PM Eastern Thursday).
I know you can watch and wager on OTB on all the Dubai International Racing Carnival races, and other wagering and simulcast outlets around the world, but you can't at Aqueduct or on a NYRA Account. Even with the late races on the Dubai card (like Vineyard Haven's race 6 of 7) you can't watch and wager after the windows open at Aqueduct. I wonder why that is?
Fans miss out again.

:eek: Sorry for the double post, busy morning here and did not notice post was sent when I got back to my office. workouts and getting ready for Thursday. Should be a great night of racing. I can't wait!:D Need sleep.

Thanks.

It's a slippery slope for someone with a business relationship with NY OTB to take shots at NYRA. Don't you think?

Blackthroatedwind, it is true that I have had a business relationship with Capital OTB from time to time, including takling about racing in Dubai. However, I was not trying to "take shots at NYRA". The "slippery slope" was not being taken by me as my reply to this form was as a FAN with some basic information that I felt would help everyone handicap, and enjoy racing that might seem different than what they are used to.
I believe in International Racing ,and that it's presentation is vital to the future, and promotion of the sport. I "wondered" in this form to all DT'ers why NYRA with it's wagering options (simulcasting, phone, and internet) were not offering this especially ontrack. As most of us know Vineyard Haven won two G1's in NY last year. I "wondered" in general why the Dubai races were not offered at Aqueduct (NYRA), and with a horse like Vineyard Haven in the entries the "I wonder why that is?" thought came to mind to ask all.
As a horseracing fan I don't care what is going on between OTB's and NYRA, I only like to watch good horses run. I mean what else are you going to do on a Thursday morning.
So, who does everyone like in the 6th anyway?

'Scheduled' being the operative word... What's the latest on the work stopage?

This is all very convenient for you, but why don't we take a step back and look at another scenerio....

.....instead of the current situation, where up until now, pretty much nobody knew you worked for NYS OTB and basically everyone knew I worked for NYRA, let's say the opposite was true. Then suppose I came on here and said any number of the things rah-rah NYRA and boo-OTB. Would you think I was doing it solely as a fan of the game.....or that it was at least slightly possible that I had an agenda.

The point is, some of us can post things that others can't, but some of us carry a different burden, per se, and the same words from some can be fairly construed differently from another.

This is an interesting and much larger economic discussion. It's hard to imagine that the world financial crisis doesn't eventually affect Dubai.

eventually?

I have friends in Dubai, American engineers that is, and they have been laid off in Dubai. They have serious money problems.

It has in a big way. The housing bust and banking problems have hit Dubai on a very large scale. People flipping entire huge buildings are stuck as is the housing industry.

that will happen when you work out your budgets on $70 a barrel gas and it goes for $30 instead.

How's Prince Alaweed's $7.5 billion investment in Citi looking these days?



lolololol

Ouch:wf

$55 to $3.50 in less than 2 years:zz:

It was tongue-in-cheek. It feels like a bigger racing related issue, however, than is being acknowledged.

The Maktoum family is more impacted the real estate markets than oil. Dubai is not as oil rich as it it heavily invested in real estate and related fields.

Gulfstream should have hired this guy!

it's a gorgeous facility, but you can't actually place a bet there.



lololololol

Anyone think it odd that detorri is riding desert party in this one? Ive seen the horse run a couple of times and while he looked very green i thought that there may be some talent there. just wondering.