What an exciting day of racing in store for us at the Dubai track today.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It is warm and sunny, with a clear blue sky \u2013 there is no better place to watch some of the top horses in action than this!\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic Grade I event over 12F on Turf has attracted some of the top horses in the sim.<\/P> Looking back at the winners of this great race over the past few years is like taking a walk through the Sim Hall of Fame (current and future\u2026\u2026.).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In 2001 this race went to Cecil Roo<\/B>,\u00a0 <\/SPAN>in 2002 the great Joe Cayenne<\/B> took this event.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In 2004 Bristol Rovers<\/B> took this race and in 2005 Rain God<\/B> triumphed.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Today\u2019s race has every possibility of finding a winner worthy of adding to this list of champions!<\/P> Lets take a look at the runners in order of preference\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/P> Leading the runners, with over $8 million in earnings, is future Hall of Famer Horseshoe Bay <\/B>(32-19-4-3).\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/B>This 5YO son of Red Ransom, magnificently trained by Texasace<\/I>, is the 5\/2 morning line favorite out of gate #12.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Horseshoe Bay\u00a0 <\/SPAN>has struggled somewhat in his last three races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>(If you can call hitting the frame in three G1 races struggling\u2026\u2026..).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Three races back he was third in The Penn Marathon\/Allied Assault Stakes with a 105 SP, two races back he was second in The Who Cares Anymore Stakes with a 105 SP and last time out he finished third in The Open to all Older Horses Special Stakes with a 104SP.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Prior to that Horseshoe Bay had won the Breeders Bowl Turf with a 117SP and The Ark De Triumph with a 113SP.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was also fourth in this race last year.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I fully expect this champion to be flying down the stretch and to win this one!<\/P> Strong Belwas<\/B> (15-6-4-2), out of gate #4 at 5\/1 is the second favorite here.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He is a 4YO son of Empire Maker, trained by asoiaf<\/I>, was third in last year\u2019s English Derby and second in the Irish Derby behind Cortez.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Since then Strong Belwas has continued to run well winning a Grade 1 in CA and finishing second in two other G1\u2019s, before winning his last start, a Stakes race over 10.5T.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think Strong Belwas might struggle to stay 12F in this top G1 race, but his class could be good enough to still hit the board.<\/P> Puppet Regime<\/B> (24-11-3-3) is a 5YO son of Kingmambo trained by wrecks2<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He will start out of gate #11 at 7\/1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Another consistent horse, third in the Japan Classic over 12F on turf three starts back; fourth in the Penn Marathon\/Allied Assault Stakes two starts back, just a length behind Horseshoe Bay; he recorded a win over 14F on turf in his last start.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>A serious contender on his best form, Puppet Regime can hit the board here.<\/P> Kool Thing <\/B>(18-8-4-1), a 4YO son of Black Sam Bellamy from the Eddieatc<\/I> stable, has been on fire of late with five wins from his last eight races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Kool Thing will start at 14\/1 out of gate #2.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His last two wins were Grade 1 races over 16F in which he led or was close to the lead.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It\u2019ll be interesting to see if he can handle the finishers over this shorter distance in what is probably the toughest race of his career so far.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think he will get caught close home, but could hold on for one of the minor honors.<\/P> Confederacy <\/B>(27-10-6-6), 9\/1 in the early line out of gate #6, is a 5YO son of High Chapparal ably trained by Dawgpound<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Confederacy has a win two races back over Horseshoe Bay in the The Penn Marathon\/Allied Assault Stakes.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This horse is a serious contender here.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was third in this race last year ahead of Horseshoe Bay.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>It\u2019ll be interesting to see if racing on three weeks rest will impact his ability to force the pace here.<\/P> Good To Be King <\/B>(19-3-7-5), a 4YO son of Smarty Jones representing the Super stables conglomerate, has been extremely consistent of late, with seven top three finishes in his last eight races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He\u2019ll be starting out of gate # 9 at odds of 10\/1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In has last race, Good To Be King was second in the G1 – Open to all Older Horses Special Stakes finishing \u00bd a length in front of Horseshoe Bay.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think 12F on turf should be ideal for this good-looking horse.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Another strong contender for a top three spot.<\/P> Next in line is Cortez<\/B> (21-9-1-4), a 4YO son of High Chapparal, trained by Slipknot22<\/I>, is 13\/1 for this event out of gate #3.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Last year\u2019s Irish Derby winner has been off form of late failing to reach the frame in his last three races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>With SP\u2019s\u00a0 <\/SPAN>of 86, 96 & 92 he\u2019s going to have to bounce back to his Breeders Bowl form, where he was third behind Horseshoe, to be able to contend here.<\/P> Director<\/B> (11-4-4-1), starting on the rail at 14\/1, is a 4YO son of Empire Maker from the snappa4<\/I> stable, is a lightly raced consistent sort that could spring a surprise in this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He finished 5th<\/SUP> in the Penn Marathon\/Allied Assault Stakes just two lengths behind Horseshoe Bay (3rd<\/SUP>).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He then ran again a week later in The Realistic Bert Stakes over 12FT were he finished second after leading for a long way.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Another front-runner who should assure a strong pace for this marquee event.<\/P> Kiss of Betrayal<\/B> (16-5-5-0), a 4YO mare out of Rock of Gibraltar, is trained by pm.\u00a0 <\/SPAN><\/I>She has a G1 win in\u00a0 <\/SPAN>the Canada Turf and a second in the Breeders Bowl Distaff on her resume.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Starting at 23\/1 on the wide outside, Kiss of Betrayal will be running from well off the pace and if she can reproduce her electrifying finish in the Canada Turf it would not be a complete surprise to see her hit the board.<\/P> Darkdoun<\/B> (18-4-5-3) is a 4YO son of Galileo, starting from gate # 7 trained by peepsclaim<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Another front runner, this horse has been running well over 10 \u2013 12F on grass.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He was third in last years Irish Derby and fifth in the California Turf classic.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think the fast pace of this race could see this one fade over the final two furlongs.<\/P> Stronghold <\/B>(26-9-2-8) a 5YO son of Point Given trained by jonsnow<\/I>, will start from gate #10 at 18\/1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This horse has been running consistently of late and includes a third place finish in the Canada Turf behind Kiss of Betrayal.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>His last outing was an easy win in a 12F stakes race, but this is a big step up in class and he will need the race of his life to hit the board here.<\/P> Thrill is Gone<\/B> (35-18-7-3) is a 6YO son of Red Ransom starting out of gate #5 at 18\/1. trained by mano2<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>This horse has been running in bid allowance races of late and while very consistent will struggle in this grade.<\/P> Total Chaos<\/B> (12-5-4-0) a 4YO son of Rahy from the bentfree<\/I> stable starts out of gate #8 at 15\/1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Another horse that appears to like small field bid allowance races.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He did make the jump to a G2 last time out and ran a nice race to finish second with a 98SP\u00a0\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Total Chaos likes to run just behind the pace, but I think he will struggle to contend down the stretch.<\/P> Stop the Groom T<\/B> (40-12-7-10) trained by priceless<\/I>, starts from gate # 13 at 24\/1.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She is a 5YO mare out of Runaway Groom and is the outsider in this race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>She has been running consistently in stakes races and ran the race of her life to finish second in a G2 over 13F on grass two races back.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think the jump to a top class\u00a0 <\/SPAN>G1 is just too much for her.<\/P>There are several runners that like to force the pace in this race, so this should be a true test of stamina.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I believe this will provide Horseshoe Bay with a good opportunity to notch up another Group 1 race, unless he finds himself with too much to do down the stretch.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>My selection: a trifecta box:\u00a0 <\/SPAN>12-4-11-2.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Good Luck to everyone!<\/SPAN><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can Horseshoe Bay bounce back or will his string of defeats extend to four?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}