Seemar's North America dazzles, Appleby racks up three wins

Dubai - North America was beaten by a neck by Thunder Snow, last time out at Meydan

Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby racked up three winners on the night but it was Satish Seemar, who landed the biggest spoils and the bragging rights heading into the 23rd renewal of the Dubai World Cup.
The Dubai-based Indian trainer, saddled North America to a scintillating victory in the third round of the Al Maktoum Challenge Sponsored by Emirates Airline, under the glistening lights of the Meydan Racecourse on Super Saturday.
After seeing Yulong Warrior blitz the field under Richard Mullen, in the opening race of the evening, Seemar and Mullen partnered again to work off North America to victory in the Group 1 feature run over 10 furlongs, the prep race for the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
In what has been a running rivalry between North America and Godolphin's Thunder Snow, the former, the six-year-old from Dubawi, won by 5.25 lengths over Emirati trainer Saeed bin Suroor's charge.
North America was beaten by a neck by Thunder Snow, last time out at Meydan but he put in a commanding performance from start to finish and keep Oisin Murphy's ride at bay. It was North America's fifth victory in 14 starts.
"He's a very good horse and the race played into his hands very well," said Mullen.
Breaking out of Gate 6, Mullen placed North America nicely into the lead ahead of the Salem bin Ghadayer-trained Capezzano, with Doug Watson's Cosmo Charlie just behind.
Thunder Snow lurked in the mid-pack and the four-year-old slowly made his way before nudging past Cosmo Charlie and into third.
Thunder Snow then got past Capezzano and challenged for the lead with 600 metres left to go. But North America didn't relent and built a nice little gap before taking the winning post.
Meanwhile, Appleby partnered with William Buick to guide Jungle Cat to victory in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint Sponsored By Arabian Adventures. Jungle Cat won by 2.25 lengths over Ertijaal with Saeed bin Suroor's Top Score coming in third.
"He's got the speed and the stamina for it," Buick said of Jungle Cat.
A little later, Appleby was on the winner's podium yet again after James Doyle took Blair House home in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta Sponsored By Emirates Airline.
And it was a one-two for Godolphin with Saeed bin Suroor's Benbatl finishing second, under Oisin Murphy.
Appleby then brought the curtains down on the night by saddling Hawkbill to victory in the Dubai City Of Gold Sponsored by Emirates SkyCargo, the last race of the night.
It was William Buick's second winner and Godolphin made a clean sweep with Frontiersman, also Appleby's charge, and Saeed bin Suroor's Gold Star finishing second and third respectively.
Earlier, the evening got off to a sensational start with Satish Seemar's Yulong Warrior striding to a comprehensive victory in the Al Bastakiya Sponsored By emirates.com, the first race on the seven-race card.
It was a one-horse race, so to speak, with Richard Mullen piloting the three-year-old from Street Cry, to a whopping 11.5-length victory over Nordic Defense.
Starting from Gate 1 has proved to be a lucky charm so far for Yulong Warrior, as he brought up his second consecutive win in seven starts.
Yulong Warrior had beaten Roy Orbison for his maiden win last month at Meydan. He also has three impressive second places on the trot, on turf, bringing to the fore his versatility.
Yulong Warrior won the 1900 metres contest, a course and distance prep for the $2 million UAE Derby (G2), with a time of 1:58:05 seconds. Nordic Defense, trained by Niels Petersen, finished two lengths ahead of Rua Augusta.
Meanwhile, the anticipated face-off between Charlie Appleby's Comicas and Dough Watson's My Catch never took place as Jordan Sport stole the thunder in the Mahab Al Shimaal Sponsored By Emirates Skywards.
A course and 1200m distance prep for the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1), Jordan Sport, trained by Fawzi Nass and ridden by Adrie De Vries, won by 7.25 lengths over Yalta, the charge of Salem bin Ghadayer.
It was the five-year-old Jordan Sport's sixth victory in 23 starts.
Meanwhile, Watson's Kimbear, ridden by Patrick Dobbs, won the Burj Nahaar Sponsored By Emirates Holidays.
james@khaleejtimes.com