Military Attack can lift World Cup for Hong Kong

Military Attack landed the Hong Kong Gold Cup for the second successive season last month and looks a major player in the Dubai World Cup on Saturday. The six-year-old son of Oratorio has been beaten in his first four starts of the campaign but there were valid excuses for all of them.

He now finds a mile on the sharp side so there was no disgrace in his fourth place behind Blazing Speed in the Stewards’ Cup at Sha Tin. He was stepped back up to ten furlongs last time out and slammed Dan Excel by three lengths.

Moore has no concerns over Military Attack’s ability to cope with the travelling as he won in Singapore last May. The Australian-born trainer is dominant in Hong Kong and Military Attack is their current Horse of the Year.

The market leader is Epsom Derby winner Ruler Of The World, trained by Aidan O’Brien. The form of the Derby worked out badly last year and the colt failed to win on four subsequent starts.

He went some way to redeeming his reputation when finishing three-quarters of a length away in third in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October. That was his first start over ten furlongs since his debut in April and was on a soft surface.

The son of Galileo will presumably be ridden up with the pace in order to bring his stamina into play. One horse that is an established front-runner is Mukhadram, so game in defeat in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

William Haggas has his team in good form judged by Ertijaal’s win at Lingfield on Saturday. The son of Shamardal also finished third in the Coral Eclipse Stakes and should have a good season.

Prince Bishop is on a hat-trick for Godolphin after two victories at Meydan this spring. He moved well under Fallon last time out to win a Group 1 on Tapeta and should put up a bold display in the famous Blue silks.

Hillstar needs to step up on last season’s form to win this while the globetrotting Red Cadeaux and Side Glance can usually be relied upon to run well.