This might be the best week yet for international participation at the Carnival, with horses from 10 countries set to line up across the seven races on Friday.
It should still be a good night for the home Godolphin team, however. They have a stranglehold on the night’s feature, the Group 3 Nad Al-Sheba Trophy.
They’ve won it nine times, including the last six, and field four in order to try and retain the trophy. Siskany, trained by Charlie Appleby, looks the pick of them, but don’t discount Marco Botti’s Italian Derby winner Ardakan, who should be a bit fitter for his run here last time out, when he finished third behind the reopposing Global Heat.
The Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes is another race which usually goes to Godolphin and might well do so again, as Appleby is sending out one of his best.