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Golden spell for Spendthrift's Vekoma continues with UAE 2,000 Guineas Trial success
Vekoma, the leading US freshman sire by earnings during 2024, has a promising sort for major honours in Dubai judging by the ready success of son Golden Vekoma in Friday’s UAE 2,000 Guineas Trial.
The Ahmad Bin Harmash trainee had won a trial race at Jebel Ali in November and was then an encouraging third behind Jamie Osborne’s Heart Of Honor and the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Estmrar in a conditions event at Meydan in early December.
A $90,000 purchase by Bin Harmash from the Ocala Spring Sale and now racing for Mohammed Al Suboosi, he was one of the outsiders in the field but made eye-catching progress turning for home under Connor Beasley in this conditions ace to score by two and a quarter lengths from Nimble Boy.
Vekoma edged out McKinzie and Tiz The Law in a very tight race among the new wave of young American sires. He has produced six individual stakes winners already, led by Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes scorer Jonathan’s Way.
The Spendthrift resident, who rounded off his racing career with back-to-back Belmont Grade 1s in the Carter and the Metropolitan Handicap, is standing for a fee of $35,000 this year. He had an astonishing run at Gulfstream Park’s card on January 1 with a haul including two black-type races.
"He’s got everything, the class, the looks and hopefully he can step forward there now and we can have plenty of fun with him in the back-end," Beasley told the Dubai Racing Club’s television feed.
"I was delighted when I was drawn wide because 1,400m would be sharp enough for him, but I think the key to him was that he was in a rhythm all the way there tonight and going the mile or even further would be no problem."
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