Meydan's new Tapeta track is likely to favour front-runners and change the style of racing in Dubai, according to one of the jockeys who had a sneak preview of the surface. The 1,750m synthetic surface, which replaced Nad al Sheba's old 2,200m dirt course, will become the new home of the US$10 million (Dh36.7m) Dubai World Cup on March 27 as well as many other major races.
Although trainers based at Nad al Sheba are able to prepare their charges on the Tapeta training track, built after the conclusion of the 2009 Dubai World Cup, the competition track is still something of an unknown quantity. Wayne Smith, the No 1 rider at Musabah al Muhairi's Oasis Stables, and eight jockeys from other Dubai yards were given the chance to try out the track. And if Smith's impressions of the new surface and track are correct, Dubai could see some interesting changes to the way its former dirt races are run.
"The bend is pretty sharp," said Smith, who is third in the jockeys' championship table. "We rode around it on Monday last week, there were nine horses there, one from each stable, and it is very tight. "Horses coming up from behind will find it very difficult so it's going to suit horses that like racing up in the first five. "I think it's going to change the style of racing in Dubai a little bit. We are going to go into a little bit of speed racing, with guys going quicker than they normally do over the first furlong to get into a good position."
"Jockeys who get left behind in the early stages could find themselves trying to make up ground around the bend as the run into the straight before the finish line is fairly short," said Smith. "I think if you get caught behind you will have to come wide, which could be tough because there is also a high camber on the track at the bends," he said. "If you are trying to make up ground around the bend - which you will have to do because the home straight is so short being it's only a furlong-and-a-half of a run-in - it's going to be very difficult for horses coming up from behind."
The sharp bends will not be the only things the horses and jockeys will need to get used to when the Carnival opens on January 28. The Tapeta surface also represents a major change for the county's trainers, horses and jockeys. "The synthetic track is new for everybody and it takes a lot of time for the horses to adjust to it," said Smith. "It took ours nearly three months to get used to it because you find that their action changes and they find it a bit hard to go on it, and it's like they are using different muscles."
Smith said that most trainers found their horses were losing shoes at the start of pre-season training, but that runners have now adapted to the surface. The jockey also predicted that more European and less American runners will start making their way to Dubai for the winter. "What I've noticed at home is that our horses that have done really well on the dirt, don't like the synthetic," he said. "It's more a surface suited to grass horses.
"In a way it's good because a lot more of the Europeans will come up and race on the synthetic because the turf horses handle it well, but for the dirt horses coming up from America, they might just stay away." @Email:stregoning@thenational.ae