Musaddas Lyrical At Meydan
Musaddas provided a second triumph for Godolphin at Meydan on Thursday, February 11 when winning the last race of the night, the Gulf News Tabloid Handicap, in good design.
The six-year-old child of Exceed And Excel had actually run promisingly when 3rd on his return to racing the previous month and he built on that efficiency by taking the nine-furlong handicap on grass eased down by a length and a half.
Musaddas, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was quick into stride and led early on the outdoors ahead of 13 competitors.
He raced a bit acutely and James Doyle was happy to soon settle him in second as Slumdogmillionaire went on.
Musaddas gained back the advantage developing into the straight and worked on well to go clear and the jockey had the ability to take things quickly close home, winning in 1m 50.03 s.
Saeed bin Suroor commented: "It is good to have a winner after three seconds this evening.
"Musaddas always tries hard and we will have to see how he is ranked after this triumph before choosing where to go next.".
James Doyle said: "We were happy with his very first run and had not overdone him prior to that. We felt he would definitely enhance for that run.
"Today was sweet - I thought it was a good efficiency. He is simply a horse you have to kid along a bit but he responded very well late on and he will get another furlong so that opens things up a bit.
"Musaddas is a character - you simply have to keep him delighted. He is improving. I did not need to touch him and ideally there will be a bit more enhancement to come.".
The jockey reviewed being unseated after the stalls opened on Godolphin's American challenger Marking (Kiaran McLaughlin) in the G3 Al Shindagha Sprint Sponsored By gulfnews.com over six furlongs on dirt. The lightly-raced four-year-old stumbled after emerging from the stalls and went left, giving James Doyle no chance of remaining on board.
He described: "Marking stood in evictions completely and launched himself fantastic as the gates opened however didn't pick his front upper hands.
"There is a race for him on Super Saturday (March 5) so we will go again and hope for a bit more luck.".
Godolphin had two more seconds, in addition to Pure Diamond, during the night, withPromising Run (Saeed bin Suroor/James Doyle) beaten by remarkable winner Polar River in the mile Listed UAE 1000 Guineas Sponsored By Friday on dirt, and Code Of Honour (Saeed bin Suroor/James Doyle) going after home Liquid Mercury in the 12-furlong Gulf News Sport Handicap on turf.
