Doug Watson holds a strong hand here with AL TARIQ looking the stable pick. He won a Group 3 over the track and trip in February and warmed up with an all-the-way victory at Jebel Ali in November. Pat Dobbs has elected to ride him over Canvassed, who has the stronger form having won a Group 3 in March before an excellent run in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen on World Cup night. The Seemar stable has been in brilliant form and Del Mar winner Freedom Fighter looks a fine acquisition from Bob Baffert's yard though the consistent Ibn Malik may prove more of a threat at this stage. A regular here, he was twice placed at Group 3 level last January and had a pipe-opener last week when only beaten a length.
Al Tariq (FR) (9-6) won at Jebel Ali 6f stks fst in Nov beating Story Of Light (9-0) by nk, 8 ran.
Bochart (9-3) 5th of 9, 10 1/4l behind Imperial Empire (8-7) at Meydan 7f stks fst in Dec.
Canvassed (IRE) (9-0) 3rd of 13, 6l behind Zenden (9-0) at Meydan 6f Grp 1 stks (1) gd in Mar.
Freedom Fighter (USA) 9-10fav (8-6) Headed 5/16, weakened, 5th of 7, 12 1/2l behind Team Merchants (8-6) at Del Mar 6f fst in Jul.
Ibn Malik (IRE) (9-8) 3rd of 13, 1l behind Dahawi (9-0) at Meydan 5f hcp gd in Jan.
Maystar (IRE) (9-6) 6th of 16, 4 3/4l behind Happy Craf (9-1) at Sakhir 7f pol in Dec.
On The Warpath (9-4) 4th of 6, 12 1/4l behind Switzerland (9-6) at Meydan 6f lst stks (1) fst in Jan.
Meraas (9-11) won at Meydan 6f hcp fst in Dec beating Dahawi (9-3) by 4 3/4l, 11 ran.
