THURSDAY’s second meeting of the 2020 Dubai World Cup Carnival was presented by Longines and featured the Round One of the Gr2 Maktoum Challenge over 1600m on dirt.
The racee was an absolute thriller in which three horses—North America on the inside, Kimbear between and Secret Ambition outside—hit the finish line together. The photo-finish revealed it was Kimbear, with Pat Dobbs aboard for trainer Doug Watson and owner Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, on top by the slightest of margins.
Secret Ambition held out North America and his jockey Richard Mullen commented: “He ran a super race, but unfortunately he did the same thing he did in the (Dubai) World Cup last year, where he ripped a patch of his foot and it’s bleeding pretty badly. I thought he got tired, but it was his foot and it was sore. That’s the down side to him; he has bad feet. Hopefully we can patch him up and come back with him.”
Heversham Park owns Northern Mischief, the dam of North America, who is currently housed in Ireland.
“We acquired her cheaply just before North America won his first race – she’s had a colt by Dandy Man and this year is in foal to Mastercraftsman” said Heversham’s Nigel Riley.