MOURILYAN DOES IT AGAIN

MOURILYAN (40) repeated his ultra strong finish to win another valuable twelve furlong handicap at Nad Al Sheba. Stone last entering the straight, his jockey, Mick Kinane, clearly knew he could pick the leaders up. And Mourliyan duly did so when shaken up, powering up to HARD TOP (39), passing him pretty late and then blasting clear to win full of run. He only won by a length but I got the strong impression that was simply because Hard Top was all he had to aim at. If it had been a better horse ahead of him I'm sure he'd have caught him too.

Mourilyan continues to look a big player for the Dubai Sheema Classic and will surely take the Group 3 City Of Gold Stakes on the way to that race.

Hard Top was always going well and made what would normally have been a race-winning move when kicking on halfway up the straight. He kept on strongly all the way to the line but was simply swamped by the finishing speed of what is almost certainly a serious Group 1 horse. If he hadn't been up against a freakishly good rival for the class he would have scored his first win since 2005 here. It looks to me that his new trainer, Herman Brown, has got Hard Top back to his best.

JALIL WORTH A SHOT AT DUBAI WORLD CUP

JALIL (40) won in Listed class time over a mile of Nad Al Sheba's dirt course a few weeks back. And he improved to run a solid Group 2 time when stepped up to ten furlongs last week.

Always moving well, Jalil was held back in second last place early by Dettori, racing very wide. He moved up steadily and smoothly rounding the turn, continued the progress up the straight and cruised away in the closing stages.

Sectional times show just how much Jalil had in hand. He took just 24.17 seconds to run the last two furlongs and 12.29 for the final furlong despite the good early gallop. This is unusually fast for the end of a dirt race over ten furlongs and clearly indicates reserve energy.

Jalil has now won both his starts on dirt, the surface he's bred for. Clearly he has to run a bit faster to rate as a top contender for the Dubai World Cup. The winner of that race normally earns a rating of between 43 and 45 from me, that's as much as six lengths quicker over ten furlongs than Jalil ran here. Right now though I couldn't say for sure that Jalil couldn't improve that much. He's one of the most exciting horses to emerge from the Dubai Carnival so far.

ARCHIPENKO CAN RUN FASTER

Last year ARCHIPENKO (38) produced a remarkable, sustained burst of speed to win the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial. They walked in the early stages of that race and Archipenko quickened up in extraordinary style to clock a final furlong of 11.4 seconds and a final four furlongs of around 45.7. After that he failed to stay the trip in the Derby and was then demoted to the role of pacemaker for several stablemates in a string of big races.

Fast forward a few months and we find Archipenko with new connections producing yet another terrific burst of speed off a slow early pace to win the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort over a mile at Nad Al Sheba. They ran 13.2 seconds from the four to three furlong marks in this race and then quickened up tremendously to run the next furlong in a mere 11.3 seconds. This didn't faze Archipenko at all. He picked up just like he did at Leopardstown and powered to the line to win by two lengths with a fair bit in hand.

Lines of form suggest that Archipenko would have earned a rating of 40 from me in a true run race. That's solid Group 2 class. And watching the video several times convinces me that he could have produced more if required. In other words it looks like Mike de Kock has another solid candidate for the Dubai Duty Free on his hands. Certainly Archipenko looks tough to beat in the Jebel Hatta over nine furlongs at Nad Al Sheba on 'Super Thursday'.

HONOUR DEVIL PROBABLY BETTER THAN HE LOOKED HERE

HONOUR DEVIL (34) looked nailed on to win the UAE Guineas judged on the amazingly fast times he'd clocked on his two previous starts. He duly did so but didn't look anything like as impressive as he should have.

The explanation, I suspect, lies in sectional times. These show that the early pace was rather slow and that Honour Devil accelerated smartly to take the lead entering the straight - running 11.02 seconds between the three and two furlong from home marks. He then kept on sprinting all the way to the line, taking just 34.6 seconds to run the final three furlongs. This is not the normal way you'd expect to see a dirt race run. Usually they go fast early and then slow down. Here they went slow then accelerated - hence the relatively slow final time.

The impressive thing was the way Honour Devil quickened entering the straight, leaving his obviously very smart stablemate ROYAL VINTAGE (33) floundering as he tried to go with him. Sectional times show Honour Devil actually ran 0.43 of a second quicker than Royal Vintage from the three to two furlong marks. That's about two and three quarter lengths. Yes Royal Vintage was closing on him all the way through the final two furlongs. But that's only because Honour Devil had expended so much energy making his race-winning move earlier.

My experience of sectional times shows that when a horse makes a big, sustained move some way from the finish it will always tire. That's what surely happened here. Honour Devil just went a bit too soon and would have looked much more impressive if his jockey had delayed kicking on him till the final furlong.

Having said that Royal Vintage is clearly a smart horse too and deserves another shot at his stablemate in the Al Bastikiya on Super Thursday.

Incidentally I wouldn't be too sure that both Honour Devil and Royal Vintage will end up running in the UAE Derby. They're in the same ownership and it would surely make sense to divert one of them to the very valuable Godolphin Mile on the same card. Either would have a serious chance in that race.

COCOA BEACH SET FOR CLASSIC DOUBLE

LUCKY FIND CAN PROBABLY RUN FASTER

LUCKY FIND (38) only clocked a Group 3 class time when winning the second round of the Maktoum Challenge over nine furlongs at Nad Al Sheba. But I strongly suspect he can run faster.

When he won over a mile earlier in the meeting on his first attempt at dirt Lucky Find clocked 12.09 seconds for the final furlong. On turf this is nothing remarkable. On dirt you rarely see a horse run so fast at the end of a mile. Clearly he had plenty left in the tank and was likely to improve over more ground. This he did, jumping from a rating of 36 to 38 for the extra furlong of the Maktoum Challenge.

Lucky Find was always moving strongly in the Maktoum Challenge and continued to do so as he edged away from Kandidate in the last furlong. Again it looked likely that he'd improve for a further step up in distance. This was certainly the way it was with Lucky Find on turf in South Africa. He showed better form with every increase in distance to a mile and three furlongs. If, as seems likely, he follows the same trend on dirt he could at least be competitive in the Dubai World Cup. I see him as a decent candidate at this stage to reach third or fourth place.

TURN ON THE STYLE SHOULD GO TO AMERICA

There has been a freakishly strong population of sprinters on British AW tracks this Winter. TURN ON THE STYLE (40) is probably the best of them, and he benefited from a switch away from the intense competition he's been facing when taking a good six furlong handicap at Nad Al Sheba.

Turn On The Style routinely runs the kind of Group 2 time he did at Nad Al Sheba. He seems to be at his very best in relatively small fields around a turn. He's either won or lost by half a length or less the last nine times he's run around a turn in a field of twelve or less. The obvious place to take him is surely America where he'd face his ideal circumstances in every single race.

THIRD SET LOOKS INTERESTING FOR BIG FRENCH MILE RACES

A lot of the turf races at Nad Al Sheba are run at a slow early pace, so speed ratings don't give you that much of an insight. Sectional times do though, and on this score the performance of THIRD SET (33) last week is worth noting. In a race where many of the runners were pulling against the slow early pace he quickened up in impressive style, coming home in just 34.12 seconds over the last three furlongs - much the fastest finish of any horse on the card.

Third Set has earned speed ratings as high as 39 from me and would probably have won all six times he's run on fast turf or Polytrack over seven furlongs or more. His pedigree suggests he won't stay more than a mile, so he's probably not a candidate for the Dubai Duty Free. But his tremendous turn of foot makes him look like a serious candidate for the big French mile races. The one I have in mind is the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville's big August meeting. It's invariably run on fast ground and features a sprint finish. Both would suit Third Set perfectly. I can see him emulating his stablemate Librettist who won the race in 2006.

MOURILYAN HAS A SERIOUS CHANCE IN THE SHEEMA CLASSIC

MOURILYAN (40) impressed me tremendously with the way he cruised home in a hot mile and a half handicap at Nad Al Sheba. Held up, around fifteen lengths behind the leader in second last place in a big field, it was nonetheless hard not to notice how smoothly he was traveling early.

Up the straight Mourilyan did a very good impression of Deep Impact, the Japanese champion who was famous for his finishing efforts. He closed the huge gap with almost no effort at all and proceeded to stroll clear as if he was taking part in a nice easy morning exercise gallop. He finished full of running and I'm certain he could have run a fair bit faster. As it is he clocked a solid Group 2 class time.

Mourilyan had run green in his previous starts and was still looking around him a bit in the closing stages according to his jockey. So I'd like to see his connections get another run into him to gain experience before the Dubai Sheema Classic. But even if he went straight to that race I'd be very interested in his chances. I've little doubt that he would have clocked a Group 1 time here if he'd been pressed. Clearly he improved markedly for the step up in distance and looks set to develop into one of the top mile and a half horses this year.

SENTINELESE COULD BE A DUBAI DUTY FREE CONTENDER

I wrote up SENTINELESE (39) after he'd won France's most valuable handicap, the Grand Handicap de Deauville last year in close to Group 2 class time. Now he's gone and run just as fast to win on his first start for new owners Godolphin at Nad Al Sheba.

Sentinelese was moving well in third place early on and closed up smoothly in the homestraight to challenge and then go clear. He only had to be shaken up to continue edging away from his rivals throughout the last furlong and was still running smoothly and strongly as they hit the line.

Sentintelese has now won all three times he's run more than six and a half furlongs. And the way he was going at the finish certainly gave the impression that he'd have no problem staying a furlong further than the mile he ran here. Indeed his dam's two best runs came over nine furlongs and I always felt his sire, Cape Cross, would have stayed if he'd ever been given the chance to run over more than a mile. This makes Sentinelese look a bit interesting for the Dubai Duty Free.

Sentinelese is a big handsome horse with a nice stride that's won two smart races in a row cozily. Quite probably he won't be quite good enough for the Dubai Duty Free, but I wouldn't want to say that for sure at this stage.