Sport : Horse Racing

PIMPERNEL CHASING OAKS PRIZE

22nd February 2012, 04:08pm

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Pimpernel: UAE Oaks hopeful

Pimpernel: UAE Oaks hopeful

Pimpernel will look for her own slice of Dubai Carnival Classic glory in the UAE Oaks at Meydan.

Mahmood Al Zarooni's filly was second in last year's Rockfel Stakes and was a Listed winner at Newbury in October but was simply blown away by stablemate Gamilati in this month's UAE 1000 Guineas.

With Gamilati now being prepared for the European season, Frankie Dettori can switch to Pimpernel in tomorrow's Group Three feature over nine and a half furlongs.

She had four of her five rivals behind her in the Guineas and finished over two lengths clear of Alsindi, with Moon Spun, Colorful Notion and Mary Fildes even further behind.

UAE debutante Falls Of Lora, winner of an Ascot conditions race, is the only one of the sextet who did not run in the Guineas and is also trained by Al Zarooni.

The trainer said: "We have decided to save Gamilati for England and their 1000 Guineas so Pimpernel will be ridden by Frankie Dettori and she really pleased us when chasing home Gamilati.

"It showed she handled the (all-weather) and she would have been closer with a clear run.

"She has been working well, as has Falls Of Lora who was a nice filly in England as well but will probably need the run and has yet to prove herself on the surface."

Twelve are declared for the Meydan Classic, a mile Listed race, and the field is headed by Factory Time, who won beat Tom Dascombe's Kenny Powers in the trial for this event.

Dascombe runs Kenny Power again while the most interesting runners are Singapore's Cash Luck and Entifaadha from the William Haggas yard. He won the Acomb Stakes at York and was third in the Champagne at Doncaster.

Silvestre de Sousa, announced this week as a retained jockey for Godolphin, has rides for his new employers at the meeting while Robert Cowell's King's Stand Stakes winner Prohibit makes a low-key Dubai comeback when giving weight away in the five-furlong Al Naboodah Construction Group sprint. He is joined by stablemate Monsieur Joe.

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