By:  Blood Horse

Photo Credit:  Emirates Racing Authority

Tall Boy Stands Tall for Calumet, O’Neill in Dubai

The Guineas leads to the U.A.E. Derby (G2), a stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Tall Boy  relentlessly worked his way past front-running Shirl’s Bee  in the stretch run of the U.A.E Two Thousand Guineas (G3) Feb. 10 at Meydan Racecourse, scoring his first career victory after going winless in four starts in California at age 2.

The victory sets up a run at the U.A.E. Derby (G2), a Road to the Kentucky Derby fixture.

Tall Boy, by Lookin At Lucky  , and Shirl’s Bee, by Bee Jersey  , are both early nominees to the U.S. Triple Crown and the winner’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, has made it clear the colt that the team calls “a gentle giant” was sent to Dubai to get a clear path forward.

From midway down the backstretch, it was a two-horse race with Shirl’s Bee inside and Tall Boy to his outside, going at a rapid clip while previously undefeated Tiger Nation missed the break and could never compete with the top two.

While the leaders both slowed through the stretch run over a tiring track, none of the others could make up any ground and the third finisher, Mr Raj , finished 1 3/4 lengths behind Shirl’s Bee.

Winning rider William Buick said Tall Boy surprised him.

“We were going a good pace. I didn’t expect to be where I was,” Buick said. “He’s got a big stride and he covers a lot of ground. He’ll go farther.

“I expect the connections will have an eye on the U.A.E. Derby after that.”

Indeed, O’Neill assistant Leandro Mora said before the race, “The reason he’s in Dubai is because we think he’s capable of being pointed to the U.A.E. Derby. He has two Kentucky Derby (G1) points already and we like him because he’s run three tough races against Bob Baffert horses. He’s a gentle giant with a lot of talent.”

Those points came via a fourth-place finish in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) Dec. 17.

Tall Boy was bred by Rockingham Ranch and produced by the Scat Daddy  mare Madame Mayra. He races for Calumet Farm. His sire was trained by Baffert to win the 2010 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Shirl’s Bee, a Charles Fipke homebred, won his only previous start, also at Meydan.

The Guineas was one of several heats on the program providing hints about races to come on Super Saturday March 4 and Dubai World Cup night March 25.

The Curlin Handicap at 2,100 meters (about 1 5/16 miles) was created as a stepping stone to the Dubai World Cup (G1), usually through the Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1) on Super Saturday. That means the field often has some contenders looking to run into shape after layoffs and others stepping up at the start of their 4-year-old seasons.

The winner, Franz Strauss, is in a different transition altogether. A 4-year-old by Golden Horn  out of a Dansili  mare, the Bhupat Seemar runner made his first start on dirt Jan. 27 at Meydan and won. He used the inside draw and a front-running trip to win the Curlin by 1 1/2 lengths and Seemar said the die is cast for his immediate future.

“He’s not bred for it but he’s learning to run on the dirt, which is so different than turf. The obvious choice now is Super Saturday,” Seemar said. “And there’s no hiding on Super Saturday when you go up against some serious horses with confirmed dirt form.”

The other major interest in the Curlin, Hypothetical , won the 2022 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1) and reported seventh in the World Cup. Making his first start since that race, he was caught outside rivals through the Curlin, contested the pace to mid-stretch, and faded to finish seventh.

Trainer Salem bin Ghadayer said before the race Hypothetical was probably only 80%-85% fit, adding the next step for him would be Super Saturday “and then we’ll see where we’re at.”

A pair of turf sprints produced a massive upset and a popular win.

The Blue Point Turf Sprint (G2) fell apart in the final 100 meters as the two heavily favored Godolphin runners, Man of Promise  and Lazuli , faded from contention and extreme outsider Miqyaas  got home a narrow winner. Ladies Church , a group 2 winner last season in Ireland, was second and Logo Hunter  finished third.

Man of Promise stopped badly to finish last while Lazuli was part of a line across the course before settling for fourth.

Miqyaas won a rather modest local sprint handicap five days prior to the Blue Point in just his second start on the turf.

Al Dasim rolled easily to his second straight turf sprint win in the 1,200-meters (about six furlongs) Dubai Trophy. The 3-year-old Harry Angel  colt, trained by George Boughey, overpowered the field through the final 200 meters to win by 3 3/4 lengths.

“He’s grown another leg here in the past couple weeks,” Boughey said. “He’s got to be a horse that goes to Super Saturday now.” That would be for the $250,000 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (G3) and the trainer mentioned upgraded expectations for Royal Ascot upon return to home base.