Highland Can Reel In A Classic In Dubai

Globetrotter Highland Reel has been racking up more air miles this week as he touched down in Dubai for Saturday’s Dubai Sheema Classic and the Group 1 contest will see him race in a sixth different country in his last six starts.

In total the four-year-old will be looking to pick up prize money in a seventh country in just 12 career outings which is some going and hopefully he’ll be able to maintain his winning ways on World Cup night at Meydan.

Tough Test
The Coolmore-owned son of Galileo will face a difficult assignment in the Dubai Sheema Classic over a mile and a half on the Meydan turf and most notably from Roger Varian’s Postponed (6/4) who has settled in well to the Dubai surroundings having won on the Super Saturday meeting here earlier in the month.

That was a fine prep run on what was Postponed’s first start for Varian since Sheikh Mohammed Obeid Al Maktoum opted to remove his horses from Luca Cumani last season. Many believed that Postponed could have given the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe a fair rattle last year following his Prix Foy win but Highland Reel is a solid performer on the global stage and is picked to come out on top under Ryan Moore.

Last seen when winning in Hong Kong last December, Highland Reel was too good for the admirable yardstick Flintshire on that occasion and previous to that he was third in the Cox Plate behind the subsequent dual Group 1 winner Winx.

Aidan O’Brien’s charge was probably a shade unlucky not to finish even closer there and will hopefully prove to be good value here at 7/2.

At time of writing, the Japanese horse Duramente was second favourite at 3/1 and comes here on the back of three successive Group wins in Japan and he certainly looks like a horse who is continuing to go from strength to strength but may just lack the class of the European pair.