Al Sakhir Cup sponsored by Texel Air
Thursday evening saw a thrilling renewal of the Al Sakhir Cup in the latest round of the Bahrain Turf Series. A field of 18 sprinters spread right across the track made for an amazing race and in the end, it was the Ali Abdulmajeed trained Dan Tucker that came out on top. A 3 time winner in the UK for Jedd O’Keeffe, he was making his first start in Bahrain on Thursday evening having been off the track since winning a handicap at York in October. That victory came from a handicap mark of just 87 and he has certainly taken his form to an entirely new level since making the switch to Bahrain. He was purchased at the horses in training sale at Tattersalls in the autumn for 170,000 guineas and has already begun to reward the investment made by Al Mohamediya Racing by taking this $48,000 contest under Neil Callan. When we get such a big field, there will always be some hard luck stories and it can be difficult to get a true handle on the form when you have so many horses in with a chance at the 2 furlong pole, but there is plenty of evidence from the data that the right horse won on the night and if he can continue to progress, Dan Tucker could develop into a serious force in the sprinting division.
Dan Tucker is a big horse. There’s no hiding this lad and with an average stride length figure of 7.78m, he recorded the longest stride in the 18-runner field on Thursday. Despite that size, he still showed plenty of speed when the gates opened, reaching 50 km/h in just 5.6s and clocking an impressive top speed figure of 69.4 km/h. That early speed figure made him one of the fastest horses into stride and his overall top speed ranked fastest of the first 5 to cross the line. Neil Callan had his mount in the ideal position along the stands rail and whilst he had to work hard to keep Dan Tucker moving forwards, once the field entered the final 300m, his long stride came to the fore and he responded readily to win by a length and a quarter. Both Partisan Hero (2nd) and Kaasib (3rd) had experience of the track and a recent outing on their side, but neither could repel the late challenge of Dan Tucker when he got into top stride. Chief Mankato was probably the unlucky loser. He raced in a much smaller group down the centre of the course and had neither the rail or a rival to help him in the closing stages of the contest. He eventually finished 4th, beaten a length and three-quarters, but his late speed figure of 61.56 km/h was within 0.13 km/h of the speed recorded by the winner. Given the way the race panned out and the amount of energy that he expended in the early stages, he can definitely have his performance upgraded and had he raced in the stands side group, he may well have finished much closer. However, whilst there is a valid reason for his tired final furlong, the fact that Dan Tucker had a longer stride and higher top speed figure would look to point to the fact that he would be the more likely winner if they met again under similar circumstances.
The first 3 horses to cross the line were drawn in stalls 18, 17 and 15. That can’t be entirely ignored when analysing this form and there is no doubt that the winner had an advantage from racing alongside the rail. Given his size and scope, there may well be a school of thought that he will be better over further and the fact that the straight course in Bahrain extends to 1,200m would surely work in his favour. However, whilst he may be vulnerable in a smaller field or going around a bend, I would argue that a truly run 5 furlong race is perfect for this son of Dandy Man and he showed that he does possess the necessary early speed to keep himself in contention. As long as he can stay within a few lengths of the lead, his long stride will always be an asset and on Thursday night’s evidence, he looks to be a very exciting recruit to the Bahrain Turf Club scene.