Mimi Kakushi, Winning the Pride of Nations at Dubai Carnival

Mimi Kakushi longer California shippers Please to win the UAE Oaks (G3) at Meydan Racecourse in the highlight event of the February 17 Dubai Carnival meeting with both boys athletics being considered the first weekend of May at Churchill Downs.

Also on tonight’s show, National pride kicked off a 4-year-old campaign that is likely to bring him back to New York this summer with a useful win in the Dubai Millennium Stakes (G3) standout.

Mimi Kakushi, one City of light dirt race for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, arrived in UAE Oaks after a resounding victory in UAE One Thousand Guineas on January 20 while Ami Please started the new year just days after arriving from California.

UAE Oaks won against #5 MIMI KAKUSHI who had to work hard to make it through the grim qualifiers @DougONeill1 #1 runner-up Ami Please. The winners were Breeders’ Cup and Pegasus World Cup hero City of Light. pic.twitter.com/cJVKJAWvyc

– TVG (@TVG) February 17, 2023

Driver Antonio Fresu shot Ami Please right in front to enter the first turn on the Meydan dirt track with Mimi Kakushi and driver Mickael Barzalona in close pursuit. Fresu tried her best to help Ami Please blow off steam but could never waver under the pressure of speed.

Turning straight in, Mimi Kakushi started to take the lead and eventually won by 1 1/4. The final stages of the 1,900 meters (about 1 3/16 miles) take place in slow motion as both leads come at the expense of early pace and a frosty 2:00.02 final time. However, none of the remaining five were able to achieve any position in the run with sawman third, behind Ami Please 3 3/4 of the way.

Please, a gold coin coached by Doug O’Neill, had a single win in five starts at the age of 2 in California when racing mainly on grass. That record includes fourth place in Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar and a third in Blue Northern Stakes at Santa Anita . Park.

O’Neill said before the race Ami Please acted well on dirt or grass and shortly after the finish suggested her performance might be encouraging enough to consider the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

“Yes,” said O’Neill. “Really nice.”

Mimi Kakushi’s coach, Salem bin Ghadayer, discussed both the UAE Derby (G2) and the Kentucky Oaks as potential targets.

“We need to see which horses will be in the Derby (UAE) and the Kentucky Oaks,” said bin Ghadayer. “I don’t see a big difference between her and those guys (running in Dubai).”

Mimi Kakushi earned 50 points for the win, putting her at the top of the Road to Kentucky Oaks leaderboard, two points ahead of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Eclipse Award winner magic wheel . Ami Please has accumulated 20 points and is in third place in the five-party ranking.

For the rest of the show, the Godolphin athletes usually have their way.

Charlie Appleby coached six of the seven most recent Dubai Millennium Stakes winners for Godolphin to join and shortlisted seven out of eight as Nations Pride rolled for a 1 1/4 length win with William Buick on the train. Zagrey was late without threatening the winner and Godolphin also finished third with Ottoman fleet .

Nations Pride ends its 2022 season with fifth place in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) at Keeneland after looting the rich turf events in New York in the summer. He finished second in the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) in July, won the $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) in August, and won the next. in the $1 million Jockey Club Invitational Stakes (G3T) tournament. In Belmont Park in September.

“Last year, he was the horse of the class when he was three years old,” says Buick. It will continue to achieve better things.

Appleby, which is sorting through a long list of Godolphin stars in his head, said Nations Pride could offer others a chance on Super Saturday.

“Maybe we’ll leave this horse until World Cup night and see how things develop,” he said. He previously hinted at taking part in a race in the UK in the spring before shipping back to the Atlantic.

Sikany came up with a daring run for a long time to win the Nad Al Sheba Trophy (G3), also for Buick and Appleby. 2,810 meters (about 1 3/4 miles) is the preparation step for the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) on World Cup night at 3,200 meters.