Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), last seen winning the G2 Qatar Prix Foy for Luca Cumani at Longchamp in September, returns to the track for his first visit to Meydan under the care of his new trainer Roger Varian.
The 5-year-old, who also claimed last season's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., is the stand-out performer in a seven-strong field for the G2 Dubai City of Gold and will be reunited with Andrea Atzeni.
“I'm very pleased with him–he's had a good winter and has been in Dubai for 10 days,” said Varian. “He's settled in very well and has put in some really nice work running up to this race. He's top-rated in the race so obviously we'll be hoping for a very strong performance from him.”
The Aga Khan's 4-year-old homebred Dariyan (Fr) (Shamardal), trained in France by Alain de Royer Dupre, enhances the international appeal of the race, which features three British-trained runners and the Mike de Kock challenger Sanshaawes (SAf) (Ashaawes). Third behind Highland Reel (Ire) in the G1 Hong Kong Vase in December, the progressive Dariyan has winning form over the distance and also claimed last year's 10-furlong G2 Prix Eugene Adam on easy ground at Maisons-Laffitte.
Another lightly-raced son of Shamardal is Balios (Ire), one of a pair of runners from David Simcock's stable whose finest hour came at Royal Ascot last season when winning the G2 Hardwicke S. The 4-year-old has been off the track since Aug. 19 when finishing well beaten in the G2 Great Voltigeur S.
Balios's stablemate Captain Morley (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) changed hands for 110,000gns last October after an eye-catching handicap victory at Doncaster over today's distance and is another making his first start of the campaign.
Of those with more recent form, the Saeed bin Suroor trainee Haafaguinea (GB) (Haafhd {GB}) was last seen chasing home Tryster in the G3 Dubai Millennium S. a little over a fortnight ago after winning his previous start on Jan. 21 when returning from an 11-month lay-off. Narrowly behind Haafaguinea in fourth on his most recent outing was Sanshaawes, who has been busy of late, with four starts since the new year, including a 10-furlong turf victory at Meydan on Jan. 21.
Completing the line-up is the expensive in-training purchase Rembrandt Van Rijn (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), who left David Lanigan's stable last October for the sum of 400,000gns and makes his first start for new trainer Salem bin Ghadayer. The 105-rated 5-year-old notched four consecutive victories in the UK last summer between 10 and 12 furlongs.
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