UAE Oaks (G3) Sponsored by Deepal
On paper, this looked like being a competitive renewal of the UAE Oaks, but the actual race turned out to be the complete opposite. Labwah has now won her last 3 starts at Meydan and having put over 7 lengths and 1.41s between herself and the rest of the field on Friday evening, it is fair to say that she is now at the top of the roster for the 3-year-old Fillies in Dubai. She needed every yard of the 1-mile trip in the Cocoa Beach Stakes last month, but this was a much more polished performance and the step up beyond 9 furlongs has brought out further improvement in this daughter of Charlatan. She would appear to be the best of his progeny so far and having dominated against her own sex, it will be interesting to see if she does take on the boys in the UAE Derby on World Cup Night in a month’s time. That can be a difficult task for a Filly, but for now we should simply enjoy her superb performance on Friday evening and our data supports the visual impression that this was a top class performance. Here’s a look at what the data from TPD told us about Labwah;
A low draw in stall 1 definitely helped her cause, but Labwah still needed to show bright early speed to hold the rail and she certainly did that, reaching 50 km/h in just 5.8s (ranked 1st of 7) and running 21.03s to reach the mile pole. From there, Bernardo Pinheiro was able to dictate the pace despite the fact that at an average of just 6.92m, Labwah had a much shorter stride length figure than both Yuno (2nd) and Dozalla (3rd). Whilst it is important to note that she has taken the shortest route and covered around 4m less than the runner-up, she was simply too fast and none of her rivals had the necessary speed to challenge her for the lead. With 3 furlongs to run, Bernardo Pinheiro asked Labwah to go and win her race and she responded readily to run closing splits of 12.70, 12.34 and 13.34s, each of which was the fastest in the field. With the exception of the opening furlong, her average stride frequency reached its race peak of 2.37 per second in the penultimate furlong and having galloped through the line with a run-out speed of 48.5 km/h. There’s an advantage to be had by racing in front and out of the kickback, but at no point in the race did she look like being headed and against the fillies, she would appear to be close to unbeatable around the dirt course at Meydan after a fairly flawless performance in the UAE Oaks.
Can she beat the boys if she runs in the UAE Derby? No. I have nothing but admiration for Labwah and she is a fantastic filly, but we have seen fillies try the UAE Derby in the past and it has proved to be a step too far and I think it would be a similar result if she is sent to that race next month. She was dominant in the UAE Oaks, but if we compare her data to that of Six Speed when he won the UAE 2,000 Guineas, it shows how much harder she will have to work. He reached 50 km/h in 5.6s, recorded a peak stride frequency of 2.52 per second and closed with a late speed figure of 56.07 km/h, all of which were quicker than Labwah managed on Friday evening when getting the run of the race. She is a very fast and compact filly, but even if getting the best of the draw against the boys, early competition for the lead and a stronger test of stamina may prove to be too much. She is the best filly on the dirt in the UAE and if kept against her own sex, she should continue to be so.