Saeed bin Suroor, the Godolphin trainer, is hoping for firm ground at Milan's San Siro racecourse today as Rio De La Plata bids for another Group 1 victory.
The five-year-old ran a superb race on his most recent start at Longchamp, France, when going down by a head to Fuisse in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, and won the seven-furlong Jean-Luc Lagardere at the same course in 2007.
Rio De La Plata was one of Europe's leading three-year-olds in 2008 and will be ridden in the Premio Vittorio di Capua - one of Italy's leading Group 1 contests - by Frankie Dettori against 11 rivals, including Pressing, the Italian and German Group 1 victor, Italian Group 1 winners Selmis and Estejo, and Worthadd, this year's Group 2 Derby Italiano Better scorer. "Rio De La Plata is working well and in good form," bin Suroor, the Emirati trainer, said. "I am happy with him. There are some nice horses in the race but he has won a Group 1 and ran very well last time in a Group 1 so he must have a good chance. He prefers good ground so I hope it does not get very soft."
Godolphin has been victorious in the race before with Muhtathir (1999), Slickly (2001 and 2002), Ancient World (2004) and Gladiatorus, who took the spoils last year. Meanwhile, Poet's Voice will be supplemented for the Group 1 Emirates Airline Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs at Newmarket, England, next week. The three-year-old Dubawi colt had previously been under consideration for a trip to the USA for a crack at the Grade 1 TVG Breeders' Cup Mile on Saturday, November 6.
Explaining the decision, Simon Crisford, Godolphin's racing manager, said: "We have decided to supplement Poet's Voice for the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket instead of the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs to limit his travelling at this stage of his career. We also feel that 10 furlongs could be the best trip for him now that he is settled so well and it is possible that a sharp mile around two bends could work against him."
Poets Voice will go up against Twice Over, last year's winner, who has been earmarked for a shot at the Dubai World Cup. "We'll prepare him for the Dubai World Cup," Henry Cecil, his trainer, said. "We'd like to win that. "I'm not quite sure how we will get him ready - we might take him out early to Dubai and give him a run before, or maybe give him a run here first. We'll see. "It went wrong last year with the draw [Twice Over was drawn in stall 11 and finished 10th], but he was only beaten three-and-a-half lengths. It's worth another go."
Snow Fairy, the dual Oaks winner, is also a contender for the Champion Stakes and the Dubai World Cup meeting could also be a target for the three-year-old. "If the ground is awful at Newmarket she would go straight to Japan, Ed Dunlop, the trainer, said. "She will also be put in the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong Vase, in case something silly happens. The Yorkshire Oaks will be one of her main aims next year. I'm not tempted to go back to Epsom for the Coronation Cup, but we can think about Dubai, the Pretty Polly and the Middleton Stakes as well."
* Agencies
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.
The trip
The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.
The hotel
There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.
MATCH INFO
CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
Tuesday:
Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)
Second legs:
October 23
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
MATCH INFO
New Zealand 176-8 (20 ovs)
England 155 (19.5 ovs)
New Zealand win by 21 runs
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
On sale: Now
Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.