First Conquest leads a Godolphin treble in style

DUBAI - It has been proven time and again that wide draws are no barrier to success at Meydan, and that was the case again when First Conquest overcame stall 15 in the Lord North Handicap (sponsored by DP World) – the feature race on the Dubai Racing Carnival card on Jan 10.

Charlie Appleby’s Teofilo four-year-old had won two of his four starts before this Dubai debut, when he was stretching out to 1,800m for the first time.

That too proved no problem, as jockey Mickael Barzalona was able to bide his time after a slow start and overcome some trouble in running 400m out.

At the 200m marker, he said “go” and got a big response.

First Conquest stormed clear to put four lengths on and beat See Hector (Pat Dobbs), who finished well on his United Arab Emirates debut for UK trainer Jamie Osborne.

First Conquest’s better-fancied Godolphin stablemate Arabian Light (William Buick) was a further four lengths back in third.

It was a first win of the Carnival for Barzalona, who is riding as a freelance this season. The French jockey won the Dubai World Cup on Godolphin’s Monterosso in 2012.

“My horse broke okay but wasn’t fast enough to get up with the pace, so we took our time and the rhythm was okay,” said Barzalona.

“He was very good once he got a clear run.

“He’s still an immature horse, but he did everything well today.”

First Conquest’s win was the highlight of a treble for Godolphin and Appleby, who took the second race, the National Industrial Park Handicap, over 1,400m on turf, with Creative Story.

Ridden by Buick, the Too Darn Hot four-year-old broke his maiden in good style, travelling prominently and hitting the front 100m out, beating The Camden Colt (Tadhg O’Shea) by 1½ lengths.

“He felt good over that trip, but there’s no reason why he won’t get a mile,” said Buick.

“It’s hard to say what level he will get to, but he should improve off that tonight.”

Buick combined with the Blue Army again to bring up a double when Symbol Of Honour took the Al Wasl Stakes (sponsored by DP World), for three-year-olds over 1,200m on turf.

The Havana Grey three-year-old had to work hard for the win, however, engaging in a battle for the last 200m with the George Scott-trained West Acre who fought hard under Dylan McMonagle but eventually succumbed by a head.

“He had to dig really deep,” said Buick. “I think he probably needed the race after a bit of a layoff. But I really liked that when he got headed, he battled back gamely.

“The five and six furlong races here, when they meet the intersection and the straight course, the race really starts and we just got caught a little flat-footed there.

“I think he’s more a horse for six-seven furlongs, he’s not a horse to drop down in distance.”

Osborne’s good Carnival continued when his Heart Of Honor remained unbeaten with a second smooth success in the opening Dubai Maritime City (1,600m) contest for three-year-old non-winners of two.

Ridden again by Adrie de Vries, the son of Honor A.P. had two horses to beat in the final furlong but made light work of it, cruising past Royal Favour (Buick) for a 2½-length success.

“He had a few quicker horses around him this time and they came across him and he got a bit of kickback,” said de Vries.

“He didn’t learn much last time as we were three or four wide and he didn’t face any kickback. He still had a good old look when he hit the front, so I think there’s a bit more in the tank.

“We mustn’t forget that he was giving away five pounds too, probably to a good horse, so it was a tough performance.”

Heart Of Honor is likely to be seen next in the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas (1,600m) on dirt on Fashion Friday, Jan 24. DUBAI RACING