DUBAI TURF (GROUP 1)

SHE came, she saw and she conquered. Almond Eye, the queen of Japanese racing, arrived in Dubai with a huge reputation and proved herself on the world stage, producing a brilliant burst of acceleration to win the $6 million Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World.

The daughter of Lord Kanaloa, trained by Sakae Kunieda to win all three legs of the Filly Triple Crown and the Group 1 Japan Cup at home, was produced with a well-timed run by Christophe Lemaire to land the nine-furlong race. She was chased home, a length and a half in arrears, by compatriot Vivlos, with the David O’Meara-saddled Lord Glitters producing a career-best run to take third a length further back.

Another Japanese runner, Deirdre, was well beaten in fourth, while the slow starting I Can Fly for Aidan O’Brien was never in a position to challenge.

“It was a really great race. She broke well, settled well, got a good position and accelerated well to win. It was the result I thought we could get and I’m happy she proved us right. I was nervous, I’ve lost my voice.

“Almond Eye can continue my dreams, so next we’ll go to Europe, our dream is to take her to the Arc,” was the post-race summation of winning trainer Sakae Kunieda.

His sentiments were echoed by Christophe Lemaire. “She was very impressive. The way she accelerated is unbelievable. Today was her first start of the year, and quite early on she was actually in front of the rest of the field. I think she relaxed a little bit and she had a bit of a margin on them.

“The distance was a little bit short for her today but she is so good that I had no fear about that. When you have the right horse and you have confidence in your horse, you can go out confident, no matter what happens - and she’s the right horse. Hopefully, there are some big victories on the horizon for her.”

The race was the final racecourse appearance for the six-year-old Vivlos whose retirement was announced afterwards. Her jockey, Mickael Barzalona, paid tribute to the daughter of Deep Impact. “She has shown again that she loves Dubai and this race especially. She won it two years ago and now she has finished second twice. She met a better filly in Almond Eye, but Vivlos fought very hard for me to the end.”

David O’Meara has ambitious plans for Lord Glitters, and said: “We’re delighted with him. You’re familiar with some of the milers we’ve taken around the world and he’s probably better than them.” We might run him in the Lockinge next. I’ll speak with Geoff [Turnbull, owner] and see what he wants to do. I’d like to run him in the Juddmonte at York.”