DUBAI DEE WINS AT JUICY ODDS FOR A VANDYKE RUNNER

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The David Vandyke trained Dubai Dee landed her first career win in only her third career start when she scored basically an end-to-end win in a Maiden Plate over 1650m at Doomben on November 16.

The lightly raced four-year-old son of Prince Of Dubai has been a work in progress since having her first official trial all the way back in July 2021 … with her debut run being delayed until January 19, 2022, after which she was away from race action for another full nine months before resuming again with an eighth place finish at Eagle Farm on October 26.

That run was over 1200m and Vandyke quickly stepped up the distance test to 1650m for her second-up start here and, with the advantages of having that first-up run under her belt and chasing over a longer trip, Dubai Dee seemed to relish the challenge.

Most punters seemed to be waiting for her to show something first before getting on her … and those who were missed the boast as the Vandyke horses seldom go around at double figure odds, but that was the case here with Dubai Dee starting at $10.

Stephanie Thornton did not rush Dubai Dee from the break, but the chestnut mare still managed to find the lead after the field had gone 200m and, although she never held more than a length-and-a-half advantage over the second placed Enunciation ($17) all of the way down the back straight and through the sweep to the home turn, Dubai Dee remained the one to get to as the field turned into the home straight.

Enunciation was now much closer with a host of other runners seemingly set to produce a challenge but, when Thornton asked Dubai Dee to quicken, the mare didn’t hesitate and it quickly became clear that, if Dubai Dee stayed strong to the line, she was going to be very hard to run down.

As things turned out, she did and running her down became too hard a task for Dubai Dee’s rivals and Thornton was able to punch her home to record her first career victory by a neat length from Tiritiri, the $3.60 favourite, who had been held up momentarily between the 200m mark and the 150m mark, with Enunciation staying on for third.

More articles