'He deserves a chance' - Mostahdaf to clash with stablemate Emily Upjohn in Dubai Sheema Classic

John and Thady Gosden will be two-handed in the turf highlight on World Cup night when Mostahdaf takes on his stablemate Emily Upjohn in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic.

Mostahdaf put himself in the frame for a shot at Meydan's $6 million race on March 25 with a scintillating comeback win in the 1m2½f Group 3 Neom Cup in Saudi Arabia last month.

The son of Frankel, who was a seven-length winner from Dubai Future, will step up to a mile and a half in Dubai but has winning form over the trip after landing the September Stakes at Kempton.

Mostahdaf and Emily Upjohn exercised on the Al Bahathri Polytrack in Newmarket on Saturday morning. The Gosdens' Clarehaven stable has won the Dubai Sheema Classic three times, with Dar Re Mi (2010), Jack Hobbs (2017) and Mishriff (2021).

Richard Hills, assistant racing manager to Shadwell Estates, owners of Mostahdaf, said after watching the work: “Mostahdaf looks fantastic. He’s come out of the Saudi race in great shape and John and Thady are both happy with him. We’re also happy as he already has £750,000 in the bag.

“He was originally going to go to Bahrain and then Saudi Arabia but plans changed when Sheikha Hissa decided to send Alflaila, who unfortunately got injured, to Bahrain.

"Mostahdaf had a hard race in the Arc on bottomless ground, which knocked him back a bit, but the team have freshened him up nicely. The Sheema Classic is a harder race but he deserves a chance and Sheikha Hissa is excited to be having key runners at the big meeting in Dubai."

On the now-retired Baaeed, the Shadwell flagbearer for the last two years, Hills said of his early stallion career: “Apparently, Baaeed is a bit of an old pro in the covering shed, just as he was on the racecourse. He’s got four or five mares in foal already, the team at Nunnery Stud tell me.”

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