IMPERIALISTA THE ONE TO BEAT IN UAE GUINEAS

IMPERIALISTA (39) ran a good time to take the first round of the Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba, beating a decent field of older horses. In doing so the Brazilian horse established himself as the one they all have to beat over the course and distance in the UAE Guineas. He looks pretty darned interesting for the UAE Derby over a furlong further after that too.

I would be wary of assuming that the runner-up Impossible Ski (37) would have won had he not started so slowly. When a horse loses a lot of ground at the start it also saves a lot of energy. It takes a lot of energy to accelerate a horse’s 1000 plus pounds up to racing speed within a five strides. If it saves a lot of that energy it can use it for an eye-catching late run as Impossible Ski did here.

ASIATIC BOY IS SERIOUSLY FAST - BUT DOES HE STAY?

The speed ratings for Argentina carried on the web site www.revistapalermo.com are pretty accurate in my experience. And these indicate that ASIATIC BOY (39) earned a rating equivalent to an identical mark of 39 on my scale when winning a 2YO maiden race at San Isidro over seven furlongs last March. He only earned a rating equal to 35 when getting beat three quarters of a length into second in Argentina's top juvenile race over a mile at the same track two months later. So there has to be a suspicion that he is better over 7f than a mile.

Asiatic Boy ran over seven furlongs on his first start in Duba for South African trainer Mike de Kock. And he clocked a seriously fast time to bury a strong field in a conditions race by nearly five lengths. Clearly he is a top class horse on dirt. His next stop is the UAE Guineas where we will get the chance to see if he has developed a bit of stamina with age. Mike de Kock seems to think he has as he said he was impressed with the way the horse picked up. If he's right then he doesn't only have a horse for the UAE Guineas but one for the far more valuable Godolphin Mile as well.

I noted on this website last year that TRAFFIC GUARD (34) would be a good candidate for the UAE Guineas. And he confirmed that idea by chasing Asiatic Boy home. He ran faster than this as a two year old and is bred to get longer. So he ought to improve on this in the big race.

MUNADDAM WORTH A SHOT AT GOLDEN SHAHEEN

MUNADDAM (41) ran a Group 2 class time when breaking the six furlong course record at Folkestone last September. And he ran even faster to take a red hot 6.5 furlong handicap at Nad Al Sheba last week.

It seems that Munaddam doesn’t really stay seven furlongs and needs fast ground. In fact, if he hadn’t been slow away when second on his first two starts and hampered when running close in the Stewards’ Cup it’s quite possible he would have won all six times he’s run less than seven furlongs on fast going.

There are some pretty good influences for dist in Munaddam’s pedigree. And dirt horses invariably prefer firm turf when they can act on it at all. So, if I owned the horse, I’d be having serious thoughts about switching him to dirt and shooting for the valuable Dubai Golden Shaheen on the World Cup card. He’d have a shot in that if replicating this form on my ratings.

QUIJANO MAKES IT EIGHT IN A ROW

Last year I whittered on interminably about QUIJANO because he kept running monstrously fast times in Germany. He earned ratings of 39 and 40 from me and looked as though he might well be able to run faster.

Last week he didn’t have to run fast to win a red hot Nad Al Sheba handicap because the early pace was slow. But lines of form suggest he would have run a Group 1 class time or very close to it if the early gallop had been stronger. Sectional times make his performance look very impressive too because they show he packed in two sub 12 second furlongs immediately before cruising clear in the final furlong. That’s quite something at the end of a mile and a half.

Quijano lost his racecourse debut at three. But he won all seven of his starts last year, including a red hot Listed race and Germany’s most valuable handicap on the Grosser Preis von Baden card. This run stretched his winning streak to eight.

It is still hard to say just how good Quijano is. But it now looks likely that he is a proper Group 1 horse and one of the strongest candidates for the Dubai Sheema Classic.

FORMAL DECREE NOT THAT SMART

Formal Decree (36) earned rave reviews for winning a Nad Al Sheba handicap. But he didn’t run very fast. In fact he never has according to my speed ratings. He needs to show a whole lot more to become anything like a viable contender for the Dubai Duty Free. And if he were going to do that I reckon he’d have done it by now.