Saeed bin Suroor

The Dubai World Cup Carnival gets underway at Meydan on Thursday with its traditional opener, the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge R1 going a mile on the dirt with a well-matched field of 11 lining up. Group 1 winner Capezzano (Bernardini) is the highest-rated of the bunch at 117, but the 7-year-old gelding isn't always straightforward. He beat Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) by 9 1/2 lengths in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 two years ago before trailing him by 32 lengths when last in the G1 Dubai World Cup,...

4th-Meydan, Cond., AED183,650, NH/SH 3yo, f, 1400m, 1:26.72, ft. SOFT WHISPER (IRE) (f, 3, Dubawi {Ire}--Placidia {Ire}, by Sea the Stars {Ire}) gave trainer Saeed bin Suroor the trifecta in the UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Presented by Longines, as stablemates Last Sunset (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Final Thought (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) followed her across the wire at Meydan on Thursday. The conditions race is a pointer for the Listed UAE 1000 Guineas on Jan. 28. However, the daughter of Placidia's task was made easier with the withdrawal of...

Godolphin's MG1SW Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will not take part in British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday due to the projected soft ground. Favoured in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. in 2019, he ran last in very soft underfoot conditions. The QEII or the G1 Champion S. had been options for the English, German and UAE highweight. A winner of Group 1s in Australia, the UAE and Germany, Benbatl will now point to the Dubai World Cup Carnival. He won the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 in...

Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will make his belated return to action in Friday's G2 Joel S. at Newmarket. The 6-year-old won a pair of Group 2s at Meydan over the winter but hasn't been seen since finishing third in the Saudi Cup. He was scratched from the G2 Celebration Mile on Aug. 29 after the ground went soft. "He'll go for the Joel, he's working well and he's in good form. We've been waiting for a while to run him," said trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "We wanted to go to...

Goodwood's G2 Ladbrokes Celebration Mile is the centrepiece of Europe's fayre on Saturday and has drawn a class act in Godolphin's Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). At his best when fresh, the 6-year-old was at his deadliest peak when taking Newmarket's G2 Joel S. by five lengths over this trip on his European bow in 2019 and sets a clear standard on that form. A triple Group 1 winner in 2018, he gave no indication that he had diminished in terms of ability when winning the Jan. 9 G2 Singspiel S....

Last year's G3 Autumn S. winner Military March (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), a leading fancy for the G1 Investec Derby before meeting with a setback in the lead-up to the race, will follow a similar path over the winter to his Saeed bin Suroor stablemate Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), the trainer said. Military March, last seen finishing fourth in the G1 2000 Guineas on June 6, is training towards an autumn return in Europe and will later target dirt races in Dubai. "Military March is back in light training," bin...

Godolphin's Newmarket-based trainers Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor have informed Racing Victoria that they will not send horses to this year's Melbourne spring carnival amid the coronavirus pandemic. Both trainers have enjoyed success at the carnival as of late; Charlie Appleby won the 2018 G1 Melbourne Cup with Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}), while bin Suroor has saddled three runners up in the great race while Benbatl (GB) won the G1 Ladbrokes S. in 2018 and was second to Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) in the G1 Cox Plate....

Overbury Stud's Kayf Tara (GB) (Sadler's Wells--Colorspin {Fr}, by High Top {Ire}), a leading National Hunt sire in Britain for many years, has been pensioned due to declining fertility, Racing Post reported on Monday. Champion jumps sire nine times in Britain, the Meon Valley Stud-bred and 210,000gns Tattersalls Houghton September Yearling is credited with champions in that sphere like Carruthers (GB), Edwulf (GB), Identity Thief (Ire), Special Tiara (GB), Tea For Two (GB) and Thistlecrack (GB). A winner of four top level races, including two editions of the Irish St....

Saeed bin Suroor's triple Group 1 winner Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is back in training and eyeing the G1 Juddmonte International at York on Aug. 19 for a potential return to action. The 6-year-old, a former winner of the G1 Dubai Turf, G1 Grosser Preis Dallmayr and G1 Ladbrokes S., showed a new dimension when winning the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge R2 over the dirt at Meydan in February before finishing third in the inaugural Saudi Cup. He was favoured for the G1 Dubai World Cup before that event was...

Godolphin G3 Autumn S. winner and G1 2000 Guineas fourth Military March (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) has been ruled out of the July 4 G1 Investec Derby after suffering a setback, according to trainer Saeed bin Suroor. Military March was third favourite for the blue riband. "He'll be back by the end of the season, but his setback means no Derby," the trainer said. "He's a nice horse, we like him and he was doing really well so it's really unfortunate. He'll have a break now, but he should be...

   On the 20-year anniversary of Dubai Millennium's track record-setting victory (a mark that still holds today) in the Dubai World Cup, Tom Frary looks back on the legendary performance by the storied horse. As the final Saturday in March 2000 slipped into evening, an already exhilarated Nad Al Sheba gathering waited with a mix of eagerness and angst for the main event. The fifth running of the $6-million G1 Dubai World Cup featured a beautiful, inspiring bay colt with an edict placed upon him by the talismanic Sheikh Mohammed...

Godolphin's triple Group 1 winner Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), third behind Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) in last weekend's Saudi Cup, has been given the go-ahead by trainer Saeed bin Suroor to advance to the G1 Dubai World Cup on Mar. 28. A Group 1 winner in Germany and Australia, the 6-year-old Benbatl made a successful transition to the dirt on Feb. 6 when winning the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge R2 at Meydan, and he ran with great credit in Riyadh on Saturday when beaten...