Impressive Dream Castle wins as Godolphin has first five in Singspiel Stakes

Dream Castle (Saeed bin Suroor/Christophe Soumillon) took the honours in the G3 Singspiel Stakes as Godolphin runners occupied the first five positions in the nine-furlong contest on turf at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 3 January, the first day of the 2019 Dubai World Cup Carnival.

The five-year-old raced in midfield on the outside as the 16 strong-field was taken along by Deauville with Racing History (Saeed bin Suroor/Kevin Stott) and Bay Of Poets (Charlie Appleby/Colm Donoghue) in close pursuit. 

Racing History went to the front entering the straight before Dream Castle was delivered down the outside to take up the running just inside the final furlong. 

The winner ran on strongly to score by a length and a half from Racing History, with Salsabeel (Charlie Appleby/Brett Doyle) staying on late from off the pace to take third, a further head behind. 

Team Talk (Saeed bin Suroor/Pat Cosgrave), who was slowly away, made late progress to finish fourth with Bay Of Poets, whose saddle appeared to slip in the closing stages, fifth.

The winning time on good ground was 1m 49.40s for Dream Castle who had not run since the 2018 Dubai World Cup Carnival.

Saeed bin Suroor and Christophe Soumillon celebrated a double on the night, having earlier taken the 12-furlong handicap with Bin Battuta.

Saeed bin Suroor commented: “Dream Castle ran a big race to win tonight over a different trip, having raced previously at a mile or seven furlongs.

“He won really well over this nine furlongs and next time we will step him up to G2 race and then aim him for the G1 Turf on Dubai World Cup night.

“Racing History pleased me too.”

Christophe Soumillon said: “I talked a lot before the race with Pat Cosgrave, who knows Dream Castle better than any other jockey, and he said that the horse had changed a lot this year and was much more settled in his track work in the mornings. I could feel the difference going down to the start. 

“He was a bit stressed inside the gates and I was happy that everybody loaded quite quickly because Dream Castle was close to jumping.

“When the gates opened, he settled down very easily, and I got the perfect race just behind the lead. I came out a bit wide and we didn’t go fast, so I had to ask him to quicken, but he gave me a good effort.

“Racing History came quite quick, but Dream Castle showed me a good turn of foot at the end, which made the difference.

“The big race for him will probably be the G1 Turf (30 March) over this distance, but I am sure that he can run between seven and nine furlongs without a problem.

“It just depends on the pace – we didn’t go very fast today and Dream Castle’s strong turn of foot helped. I am sure he will be much better with one or two more races under his belt.”