Lord Glitters sparkles again in successful Singspiel defence

Popular veteran lands another big Meydan prize.

Lord Glitters produced his trademark finishing kick to claim back-to-back victories in the Singspiel Stakes at Meydan.

David O’Meara’s globetrotting stable star was the oldest horse in the Group Two heat at the age of nine, but he looked as good as ever scoring in the hands of Danny Tudhope.

Passion And Glory set an even pace which suited Lord Glitters, who was held up towards the rear of the field until the straight.

The grey gelding stormed past the opposition in the last half-furlong to beat the Charlie Appleby-trained pair of Royal Fleet and Zakouski, who were second and third respectively. Irish raider Freescape, trained by David Marnane, was fourth.

O’Meara said: “He was good. He’s been brilliant. I felt he’d improve for his first run in Dubai this winter. He missed a little bit in between Bahrain and Dubai, so we weren’t surprised to see him take a step forward.

“I don’t think they went mega quick, but they got racing far enough out which let him travel nicely into the race and Danny knows him inside out.”

Lord Glitters is likely to remain in Dubai to attempt to win the Jebel Hatta for the second year running next month, although he does have an entry in the Neom Cup in Saudi Arabia later this month.

“The Jebel Hatta would be the obvious next step,” said O’Meara.

“We have an invite for Saudi Arabia but I believe the race we have him entered in over there, Lord North and Pyledriver are going for it, so we might be as well avoiding them and stay in Dubai. But I’ll speak to Nick Turnbull, who owns him, and see what he wants to do.”

Azure Coast came from last to first to win the UAE 2000 Guineas and take his unbeaten record to three.

The son of Street Sense was virtually tailed off in the early stages as Rawy set a frenetic pace, but Antonio Fresu was content to bide his time.

He started to pick off a few rivals at the top of the straight as the early leaders began to come back to the field.

Galloping him on resolutely, Azure Coast, trained by Pavel Vaschenko, hit the front in the final furlong to land the Group Three prize over a mile by two lengths from Kiefer, with Quality Boone a head away third.

Fresu said: “This is a very good horse. I’ve been helping them a lot in the morning galloping these horses. It was stupid of me, I didn’t chose him last time because I thought seven furlongs was way too short, but last time he showed even over seven he had a lot of ability.

“I took my time, I rode him exactly the same. I didn’t ask him too much at the beginning and the horse got going in the last three furlongs, but I was really easy in the last furlong.

“The UAE Derby is right for him. He will get better over a longer distance.”

Storm Damage beat Mutafawwig to break the track record for seven furlongs and give trainer Saeed bin Suroor a one-two in the Listed Bay Challenge.

The four-year-old made most of the running and kept up the gallop to take the spoils by three and a quarter lengths in the hands of Pat Cosgrave. The Charlie Appleby-trained Modern News was third as Godolphin owned the first three.

Cosgrave said: “He’s a very smart horse but he’s a bit quirky. He likes to get on with it and he keeps going. It was a good performance.

“He won off 108 today and was impressive. He’s got to improve again when he goes into Group company.”

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