Maftool & Zephuros In UAE 2000 Guineas Trial

Time/Date - 20.30hrs local time/Thursday, January 15, 2015
Racecourse/Country - Meydan/UAE
Surface/Distance - Dirt/7f

Maftool and Zephuros return to action in the seven-furlong UAE 2000 Guineas Trial Sponsored By DP World UAE Region on dirt at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, January 15.

Both three-year-olds make their debuts on dirt, with Maftool (Saeed bin Suroor/James Doyle) switching from turf following two appearances over seven furlongs at Newmarket, most recently when fifth in the Group One Dubai Dewhurst Stakes on October 17.

The Hard Spun colt was the easy winner of the Group Three Somerville Tattersall Stakes on September 25 and kept on to take second on Polytrack in the six-furlong Group Three Totepool Sirenia Stakes at Kempton Park, UK, on September 6.

Zephuros (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) made four starts, all on turf, in the UK last year and was third on his two most recent appearances in novice contests over a mile at Salisbury on September 4 and over seven furlongs at Lingfield Park August 16.

The son of Invincible Spirit finished runner-up in another seven-furlong novice race at Newmarket on August 1 and started his career with a comfortable half-length success in a maiden over the same course and distance on June 28.

Saeed bin Suroor commented: "Maftool is a colt that I like and his last piece of work went very well.

"He is getting better physically and heads into this race in good form. He should cope with the dirt and am hoping for another good run."

Charlie Appleby said: "Zephuros has been a little disappointing since his maiden win but he seems to handle the dirt.

"He has been drawn wide, which will help him keep out of the kickback early on.

"He is fit and well but has a bit to find on the figures. We wanted to give him a chance in a race like this to see how he gets on and then we can plan ahead for the rest of the Carnival."

Maftool, drawn five, and Zephuros, emerging from stall 11, tackle 11 rivals including Group Three Dubai Cornwallis Stakes third Volatile, Norwegian winner Wild Citizen, South American scorer Ajwad and Meydan victor Mubtaahij.