Gold Town shows plenty of class in UAE 2000 Guineas Trial

Gold Town booked his place for the UAE Classics with an impressive success in division one of the seven-furlong UAE 2000 Guineas Trial on dirt at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 25 January.
Switching to dirt following a productive European turf and All-Weather campaign in 2017, the Charlie Appleby-trained three-year-old was pushed along leaving the stalls and soon opened up a narrow advantage over his 10 rivals.
Gold Town had the rest of the field off the bridle turning in and the son of Street Cry powered clear after straightening up before being eased down in the closing stages by William Buick. He won by four and a quarter lengths from Roland Rocks in 1m 25.08s, but the margin could have been at least double that.
Charlie Appleby was delighted “Gold Town’s homework had been good beforehand and he brought a lot of experience to the table.
“The most pleasing thing about tonight was how he handled the dirt and was able to use his tactical speed.
“William said that he got a great feel and Gold Town is one of a few horses who can quicken on that surface.
“It will be interesting to see what the second division throws up, but our horse couldn’t have been more impressive. “He has ticked a lot of boxes with his performance tonight and hopefully we can head straight to the UAE 2000 Guineas (G3, 1m, 15 February).
“I think that there will hopefully be a bit more improvement to come with the step up to a mile.”
William Buick added: “It was a great performance by Gold Town.
“If you can get on the lead like he did and get some sort of breather into them, it’s a big bonus, but he won very well and gave me a great feel.
“He is by Street Cry, which is a huge bonus in general and especially on this surface, so he is an exciting horse and certainly one to look forward to.
“He had been training well on the dirt, but stepped on the gas today and was always within himself. He feels like a horse who can improve on this performance as well.
“Gold Town felt very natural on the dirt, which not many horses that I have ridden out in Dubai have done.
“I rode Frosted in Round 2 of the Al Maktoum Challenge and he was a natural dirt horse – Gold Town has a bit to go before he reaches that level, but he gives me a great feel and it is not easy to quicken on the surface, which he did tonight.
“His form last year was pretty good and he never ran a bad race, but he has filled out physically and feels very good mentally as well.”