Meydan Racecourse stages another top-class card on Friday, when the sixth meeting of the Carnival should give us some pointers toward runners for the Group 1 Al-Quoz Sprint, UAE Derby and Dubai World Cup on March 25.
The Al-Quoz prep is the Group 2 Blue Point Sprint which is hugely competitive and features the last two winners — Lazuli and Equilateral.
Lazuli is squarely the one to beat, having form figures of 1-1-3 over this straight 1,000-meter course (the third, incidentally, was behind Equilateral) but this time he does not have the best of the draw, and maybe the winner can come from elsewhere.
I’m a big fan of the Czech-based sprinter Ponntos who has a good draw here in 11. He was only a length and a quarter behind Lazuli last time and, having had that run, could go a lot closer.