Very Special In Balanchine

Very Special made all to win the G2 Balanchine Sponsored By Skywards on the turf when stepping up to nine furlongs for the first time at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, March 3.

The four-year-old Lope De Vega filly, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, captured her second successive G2 race, having enjoyed an easy success on her Dubai World Cup Carnival debut in the Cape Verdi Sponsored By EGA over a mile on February 4.

Very Special soon led under James Doyle who kicked three or four lengths clear on the turn and pushed even further ahead entering the straight.

The filly ran on well and was always holding the runner-up Euro Charline, winning well by two and a half lengths in 1m 48.85s. Excilly, beaten three lengths in the Cape Verdi, was a further four and a half lengths back in third.

Saeed bin Suroor said: "Very Special is doing very good here in Dubai and worked well after her Cape Verdi victory.

"She is a tough filly who has been lightly raced. We will see how she comes out of this race before making plans for her next race."

James Doyle commented: "It always looks good when you get away from the front but you have to have the animal beneath you and I just have to say the whole team have done a wonderful job with Very Special.

"She has really relaxed from her first run to today and it was a good performance I thought. She was definitely a better filly tonight and the fizz was out of her.

"We spoke about the race beforehand and thought it was a pretty tough task. We were just hoping that she would be a nice horse and she has proved that tonight.

"She doesn't have to race from the front - if Euro Charline had wanted to lead, we could have taken a sit but we jumped well again tonight and nobody wanted to go on. She still over-races a fraction but that is her - one day she may fully relax.

"It is tricky to say whether she is good enough to go for the Dubai Turf (G1 over the same course & distance) on World Cup night (March 26).

"Obviously, it is a massively strong race and she would have to improve again. She is a filly we have to take it step by step with - she will tell us whether she is ready for that or not."