THE feature on the opening day of the 2023 Dubai World Cup Carnival yesterday was the $250,000 Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge R1. Run over a mile on dirt, it attracted a quality field of 16 runners, including the first four home in the race 12 months ago.

Last year’s winner Golden Goal was one of the first beaten, but few had any chance once the six-year-old Irish-bred Algiers set sail for home under James Doyle. The Crisford father and son team of Simon and Ed had enjoyed success with the entire last year, winning the Group 3 Jebel Ali Mile in February, and based on this performance the Hamdan Sultan Ali Alsabousi-owned winner could have a rewarding Carnival.

Algiers had six and a half lengths to spare over the Bhupat Seemar-trained Discovery Island, one of four runners in the race for the master of Zabeel Stables.

Half an hour later and Doyle was back in the winners’ enclosure on the Charlie Appleby-trained Al Suhail, the pair running out four-length winners of the $180,000 Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort.

This race was the feature on turf, run over seven furlongs. Appleby was saddling the winner for the fifth time in six years, and his second runner, the Group 3 Jersey Stakes winner Noble Truth, weakened after four furlongs and finished an eased-down last.

Al Suhail, a Meon Valley Stud-bred son of Dubawi, likes it at Meydan, and was reported to be in good form. He had a wide draw to overcome, and he did so easily. The Gordon Elliott-trained Coachello finished mid-division after breaking slowly.

Dubai dash

One of the most interesting races on the card was the concluding $100,000 Ertijaal Dubai Dash, a listed five-furlong sprint on turf. Two Irish challengers lined up, the Michael Browne-trained Logo Hunter and Johnny Levins’ Prisoner’s Dilemma. The former finished sixth in a strong field of 16, but the race was dominated by Charlie Appleby.

His two runners, course specialist Man Of Promise under William Buick and Group 2 Blue Point Sprint winner Lazuli were expected to be the pair to beat, though it was the James Doyle-partnered Lazuli who ran out a smooth winner. This was the first victory for the six-year-old son of Dubawi, a Godolphin homebred, since last February.

O’Shea again

The Tadhg O’Shea bandwagon continued in the first group race of the 2023 Carnival, the $150,000 Group 3 Dubawi Stakes. The nine-year-old Switzerland, successful last March in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen on World Cup night, was having his first start back, and he showed himself to be as good as ever with a smooth success for trainer Bhupat Seemar.

Prior to the race Seemar said: “He seems to be in good form, and we are hoping for a good run under his optimum conditions”. The son of Speightstown certainly delivered on the six-furlong dirt track, recording his 10th career success, half of which have come in the UAE. Switzerland carries the silks of RRR Racing.

Having his first run since wind surgery last August, the Ian Williams-trained Enemy got his 2023 campaign off to a winning start in the Dubai Racing Club Classic, a $100,000 mile and a half handicap on turf. In the hands of Richard Kingscote, the six-year-old Muhaarar half-brother to Group 1 winners Magic Wand and Chiquita, was winning for the second time for Williams.

The trainer purchased Enemy for €92,000 in 2021 out of the Graffard yard, and last April he was only half a length behind Princess Zoe and Quickthorn in a blanket finish to the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Ascot. Slowly into his stride on this occasion, Kingscote settled Enemy at the rear, launching his challenge with a little more than two furlongs to race.

Brazil score

Eleven three-year-olds went to post for the seven-furlong, $150,000 Jumeirah Classic Trial, and the youngest horse in the field, the Brazilian-bred Long Kiss, emerged victorious for jockey Jose de Silva and trained Jose Olascoaga.

The colt won a maiden over the course and distance in scintillating fashion back in November, but was beaten since. The son of Adriano races in the colours of Stud Guara Del Sar, and before he came to the UAE he had raced in Uruguay.

At the post he had a head to spare over the Tom Dascombe runner Felix Natalis, ridden by Richard Kingscote. The Johnny Murtagh-trained Bay Of Plenty, with Danny Sheehy in the saddle, finished eighth.

Arabian star

The opening event on the seven-race card, the first race of the 2023 Dubai World Cup Carnival, was a Group 1 for purebred Arabians, and a full field of 16 went to post. Run over a mile on dirt, the Al Maktoum Challenge R1 was won for the second successive year by RB Rich Lyke Me, trained by Fawzi Nass and ridden by Adrie de Vries.

The seven-year-old gelding, successful in 10 of his previous 21 starts and placed on another nine occasions, was winning for the first time since last year’s renewal, and carries the colours of Victorious and Nass. He loves Meydan and has won four of his five starts in the UAE. The runner-up, Barakka, was nearly seven lengths adrift.