Royal Hunt Cup winner Real World set to shine despite absence of Frankie Dettori
Real World, the horse threatening to take Saeed bin Suroor back to the big time, is set to start a short-priced favourite for his first outing of 2022 at Meydan on Friday despite being without the assistance of Frankie Dettori, who rode him to victory in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein at Longchamp in October.
Last summer's Royal Hunt Cup winner, who went on to strike at Listed, Group 3 and Group 2 level, was rated just 93 this time last year, but made giant strides to end the campaign 25lb higher.
He is set to take his place in the Group 2 Zabeel Mile (), the highlight of Meydan's third Dubai World Cup Carnival fixture, which can be viewed on Sky Sports Racing and Racing TV.
Real World, a 1-2 shot with William Hill, will now be partnered by Danny Tudhope after Dettori tested positive for Covid while in Dubai.
Dettori said: "I'm restricted in my room for a few days and still feel a little under the weather, but I've had my vaccine and should survive."
Bin Suroor, Britain's champion Flat trainer four times between 1996 and 2004 but without a top-level winner for nearly three years, has valuable February assignments in Saudi Arabia in mind for the five-year-old, and said: "Real World really improved in Europe last year, winning all four of his starts including the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein on his latest appearance.
"A mile looks a nice starting point for his campaign and he has been working well, although we expect him to improve for his first run of the year."
Real World's biggest threat could come from within as Godolphin also field Path Of Thunder and One Ruler, first and sixth respectively in a course-and-distance conditions event three weeks ago.
They are trained by Charlie Appleby, who said: "Path Of Thunder produced a good performance on his first start in Dubai. He has risen to a mark of 112 for that and deserves to be in a race of this calibre. He will have to improve again to win but we are confident he can be competitive.
"We are pleased with how One Ruler has come out of the Zabeel Trophy, when he met traffic before finishing his race off well. He is a Group 1 runner-up and brings some of the strongest form into the race, although Real World looks the horse we all have to beat."
The Listed UAE 1,000 Guineas () also has a red-hot favourite in the shape of Shahama.
Trained by Fawzi Nass, she is unbeaten in two starts and is the mount Adrie de Vries, a multiple Group 1-winning rider who landed what is now the Hampton Court Stakes on Energizer at Royal Ascot 2012.
He said: "She has done nothing wrong and remains in good form at home. She won easily first time and improved for that experience and showed her class in the trial when we had a few traffic problems. Hopefully she is the one to beat."
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Published on 27 January 2022inInternational
Last updated 16:39, 27 January 2022
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