Racing at Meydan’s seven-race card on Thursday is sponsored by pillar partner Longines and is highlighted by three exciting contests with Dubai World Cup Carnival implications. The highest-rated race of the evening is the Group 2 Bani Yas presented by Longines (Race 1) over 1400m—the lone Purebred Arabian contest of the meeting.

Possible Thoroughbred stars of tomorrow will be on display in the third juvenile maiden race of the season, also over 1400m, the Longines Conquest V H P (Race 3). Lastly of note is the feature of the evening, the 1600m Longines Master Collection handicap (Race 5), worth approximately $65,400 (Dhs240,000).

The Longines Master Collection (Race 5) drew a competitive field of 13 and is topped in the weights by Thegreatcollection (pictured above), one of two in the race for Doug Watson whose stable jockey, Pat Dobbs, elects to ride new arrival Canvassed.

While the former has needed the run the last two years to kick off his seasons, he does ride a two-race win streak, including an impressive closing day (Apr. 12) victory over a two of these, Rodaini (third) and Bochart (fifth).

Owned by Sheikh Mohd Obaid Al Maktoum, whose Postponed won the Group 1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic in 2017, Canvassed has raced three times, winning the first two on all-weather surfaces in highly impressive fashion for Roger Varian before being well held in a Listed Royal Ascot trial astern G3 winner Zaaki and G1 winner Barney Roy.

“He is a really nice horse, undoubtedly,” Watson said.

“Obviously the dirt is the question and whether he handles it in a race, but his work is very good and we have to be hopeful. We got him in August and started from scratch with him. He has a really nice cruising speed when he canters every day. He just doesn’t get tired. It’s a first step and we’ll see where we stand after this.”

Sayed Hashish’s opening night (Oct. 24) winner Mark of Approval, who gets in at a favourable 53kgs under Fabrice Veron must be respected. A former John Gosden pupil, the son of Lemon Drop Kid out of a Speightstown mare lived up to his dirt-friendly pedigree with an eye-catching score under Antonio Fresu at this distance against lesser company. He is a half-brother to Middle Park (G1) fourth King Neptune. Another former Gosden trainee who could pop at first asking over dirt and in his UAE bow, given that he is a son of Dubawi, is Nasir Askar’s Mussabeh Al Mheiri-trained Military Law.

The Bani Yas is topped by two recent winners of the race, RB Torch, who landed the spoils in 2017, and last year’s winner, ES Ajeeb. Trained by Ibrahim Aseel for owner and breeder Sheikh Abdulla bin Majid Al Qassemi, ES Ajeeb is undoubtedly one of the fastest Purebred Arabians in training and a dirt specialist.  This 1400m is seemingly as far as he wants stamina-wise and regular pilot Sam Hitchcott is back in the irons.

Possible stars of tomorrow will be on display in the evening’s third race, a 1400m heat of 11 2-year-olds, seven of which are making their career debuts. Chief among the market will likely be the four colts with the benefit of opening night’s 1200m maiden: Laa Baas (second), Al Modayar (fourth), Cosmo Kramer (fifth) and Attribution (seventh).

Chief among the first-time starters is a pair from the yard of Ahmad bin Harmash, including Al Rashid Stables’ well-bred $150,000 OBS April purchase Ababil and Phoenix Ladies Syndicate’s $105,000 pick-up from the same sale, Jukebox King.

An older maiden race over 1200m, the Longines Conquest Classic (Race 2), appears speedball Shanaghai City’s to lose for trainer Rashid Bouresly, who also saddles Cozmo Star and Celtic Prince. From nine starts, the confirmed frontrunner has placed four times, including two weeks ago over 1600m astern Mulfit. Endless Gold, for Phoenix Ladies, and Touch Gold Racing’s former Charlie Appleby trainee Warburton, who has shown ample tactical speed in his runs, also catch the eye in this field.

In the 1900m Longines Record Collection handicap (Race 4), Tradesman will try to double up for EERC after his opening night win, but must rematch with Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Philosopher, who has won at Sharjah since finishing third to the Watson trainee.

Late-running and hard-trying Quartier Francais must also be respected in this spot for Mohd Khalifa Al Basti.

Another looking to double up is Satish Seemar trainee Way of Wisdom, who ran out an impressive victor for Hashish over the same 1200m he contests in Race 6, the Longines Dolce Vita.