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A good, insightful piece on the strength of the Dubai Racing Carnival by Nick Mordin this week.
I agree with him in that it does not get anywhere near the credit it deserves, as the racing tis year particularly has been well above average.
Last years Cambridgeshire looks quite a strong race now..
I don’t want it getting any more coverage / credit in fact I wish this "carnival" had never been created. More flipping dirt races. An event created to further swell the ego of the horrid Godolphin organisation. <br>
How exactly is it swelling Godolphin’s ego considering they haven’t won a race from 27 attempts this year, with 20 being 1st of 2nd favourites?
I said it was created to swell their egos. The fact that they can’t buy a winner now is neither here nor there.
The carnival has nothing to do with Godolphin. It has to do with promoting Dubai racing. If you choose to dislike Godolphin, focus on their buying policy at the end of each season or something else, but to dislike the Dubai racing carnival because of Godolphin is plain silly.
Agree with Salselon – I guess more dirt race haters are about to come out of the woodwork.
I don’t know how anyone that loves horse racing can dislike the Dubai carnival, there are some fantastic horses on show, if it’s down to a betting thing then there’s no need to bet, just watch the racing and enjoy it, I certainly do.
Quote: from Salselon on 4:48 pm on Feb. 28, 2007[br]The carnival has nothing to do with Godolphin. It has to do with promoting Dubai racing. If you choose to dislike Godolphin, focus on their buying policy at the end of each season or something else, but to dislike the Dubai racing carnival because of Godolphin is plain silly.<br>
<br>Sheikh Mohammed is the ruler of both Dubai and Godolphin how is one not connected with the other?
Can’t say I’ve particularly enjoyed the racing. Certainly too difficult to get involved puting wise. Have enjoyed Southwell and Wolverhampton much more.
I would prefer the Dubai carnival to any other meeting, there is no comparision to it anywhere in the World and as for comparing it to any all-weather course in the U.K. is sad.
Oh well, each to their own.<br>Fantastic prize Money. An international event in great surroundings. Competitive racing.<br>The attitudes to it here helps to explain a lot about the mess the horse racing industry in the UK gets itself into. <br>Also they are not betting on the races there but we can.<br>I guess some people think it is solely run on dirt<br>and havent actually watched any of the racing.<br>If you cannot derive anything from Dubai Carnival give up now.
Tell me what is so exciting about seeing a South American horse of which you know absolutely nothing about win a handicap against a number of horses that are too exposed to be competitive off similar marks in this country. Also have a look at how about 80 per cent of the horses that run there are owned by the Maktoums and/or their associates. It’s hardly sport when you are competing with yourself. Any horses that prove themself to be potentially smart end up being cherry picked by Mohammed himself.
It’s about seeing the best take on the best. We have a habit of proclaiming our horses as "best in the world" when to be brutal a number – mainly our Champion Sprinters are second rate. Put them against a Heart Alone or a Delaware Township, Saratoga County etc and you’ll see them trail the fields.
There’s also the prize money aspect, you can run in a handicap which is in terms of quality at least up to UK Group 3 standard and with more prize money also.
Surely your best against the best argument is weakened by the fact that half the programme over there seems to be made up of handicaps. And looking at the leaderboards of the 2006 World Thoroughbred Rankings, how many of them have actually run at the Carnival?
Looking at the leaderboards very few (if any run pre-World Cup night) but the quality of horse they encourage to run at the Carnival thanks to races like the Al Shindagha, City of Gold etc. and the prize money on offer will encourage more of the top horses to try.
As for the handicap question that’s one of the main issues, i’d sooner see 8 conditions races over varying distances on the card with penalties per-Carnival win but that’s not likely to happen.
For this year Quijano certainly looks more than capable of taking a hand in the big 10-12f turf races in Europe this year and English Channel (one of the top turf horses, if not the top turf horse in the US is running there soon) along with a few Aussie’s, Pop Rock and possibly Delta Blues from the Far East. The carnival at the moment does look a touch weak bar a few weeks but all meetings start somewhere and I doubt British racing started out with 16 or so Group 1’s, numerous Group races and the rest handicaps.
Quote: from davidjohnson on 8:25 pm on Feb. 28, 2007[br]Tell me what is so exciting about seeing a South American horse of which you know absolutely nothing about win a handicap against a number of horses that are too exposed to be competitive off similar marks in this country. Also have a look at how about 80 per cent of the horses that run there are owned by the Maktoums and/or their associates. It’s hardly sport when you are competing with yourself. Any horses that prove themself to be potentially smart end up being cherry picked by Mohammed himself. <br>
Surely this is a good thing with horses such as Formal Decree available at great prices due to the lack of collateral form? Do you also then have a problem with the Breeders cup?! Look forward to hearing your response to this..
Also, is the Irish Derby irrelevant when O’Brien runs half of the contenders?
And what is exciting about watching horses who can barely run fast enough to keep warm running for 3s 6d in some of Britain’s less salubrious corners?
There are plenty of websites through which to find out about South American/Brazilian/US form. Better that than the betting-shop fodder we get in Britain.
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