UAE - Rashed Bouresly is one of the great enigmas of UAE racing. Part owner, part trainer he is much more than the sum of his literal parts.

And on Friday evening the good-natured Kuwaiti, dressed in his trademark black kandura, delivered the biggest win of his career when rank outsider Migyaas blitzed his rivals to win the Group 2 Blue Point Sprint, the feature race at the sixth Dubai World Cup Carnival meeting.

Backing up after winning a modest handicap just five days ago, the eight-year-old son of Ocean’s Dream put himself into contention for a shot at some of the biggest sprint races to come with a stellar effort in the hands of Panamanian jockey Oscar Chavez.

The winner scored by a short-head from Irish raider Ladies Church and Ben Cross, with Logo Hunter third by the same margin. Last year’s winner Lazuli was caught for pace and finished fourth.

“I always knew that he was an improving horse, but what I did not know was that he would improve this much against such tough competition,” said the 43-year-old Chavez who has been riding in the Singapore and Malaysian circuit since the early nineties.

“How the horse responded in the end really surprised me because he went flat out from the stalls. I gave him a breather 200 metres in and then asked him to pick up again and he just accelerated and stayed on to win.

“I did my homework before the race and I only had two things in my mind - either he will win again or not and either the race will improve him or kill him,” he added.

The irony of Chavez’s bizarre comment may have not been lost on Bouresly who has long-cherished winning a race on Dubai World Cup night.

And in Migyaas, who was unraced when previously trained by English great John Gosden, he may just have the horse that can realize his ambition.

Nine colts lined up to contest the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas with American raider Tall Boy snatching the spoils from locally-trained Shirl’s Bee after a protracted duel down Meydan’s dirt track.

The winner was ridden by William Buick for trainer Doug O’Neill who will now hope to become only the second American handler to win the UAE Derby on March 25 after Brendan Walsh triumphed in 2019 with Plus Que Parfai.

“He’s got a good stride he’s a horse that will get further,” said Buick. “I presume the connections will have one eye on the UAE Derby after that.

“He showed a lot of guts, a real good attitude, and plenty of quality. I expect him to improve plenty.”

Commenting on the duel with Pat Dobbs aboard the runner-up Shirl’s Bee, Buick added: “Once we locked horns in the straight my horse grew an inch.

“It was a tough battle. They both showed tenacity but my horse gave me plenty in response.”

Meanwhile, strongly fancied Al Dasm lived up to the expectations when landing the Dubai Trophy under big-race jockey Mickael Barzalona.

A Harry Angel colt, Al Dasm is now two-from-two at the Carnival.

Barzalona said: “That was probably easier and more impressive than last time. He has plenty of natural speed and a touch of class.

The Curlin Handicap, a race that is run over the same 2000m course on dirt as the Dubai World Cup, was another highlight of Friday’s strong card and the race went to the improving Franz Strauss, ridden with confidence by ten-time UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea.

“He has always trained well on the dirt at home and we had a great draw today so I was keen to make full use of that,” said O’Shea, who looks well set to win an 11th UAE jockey’s title at the end of the season.

“It all worked out as I hoped.”

The evening began on a high note for in-form jockey James Doyle who partnered Godolphin’s Blue Trail to an imposing 11-length victory, a performance that also saw the horse break the course record 2,000 metres on turf.

Appleby said he was surprised at the way his charge dominated the race and that he will look to step him up to Pattern race company in his next start.

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