Quddwah primed for Abu Dhabi debut
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Thu 5 Feb 2026
Fresh from his impressive success in the Zabeel Mile at Meydan, Quddwah looks like starting favourite for Saturday’s inaugural running of the Abu Dhabi Gold Cup.
The entire son of Kingman took his form to a new level in early January when under James Doyle he smoothly accounted for Aomori City.
Prior to that he had won on four other occasions for Simon and Ed Crisford, including the 2024 Summer Mile at Ascot and last year’s Prix Messidor at Chantilly.
Supervising his training at Millennium Stables is assistant George Prince, who said: “Quddwah impressed in his latest run at Meydan and had only been in the yard for 10 days prior to that.
“Obviously we were always worried about how he would take the travel, but to see him turn out and put in that performance as part of a double for the yard (Meydaan also won) gave us all a great buzz. Fingers crossed, he can keep the ball rolling.”
Quddwah has shown his best form with some cut in the ground but the team are happy with underfoot conditions for Saturday.
Prince added: “Anything on the quicker side such as good to firm wouldn’t be ideal, as anything on the easy side of good is best for him, where he can get his toe in. We went to look at the track a few weeks ago, and hopefully it will be fine for him on Saturday.”
Asked about the effects of the draw on a track which includes a sweeping turn, Prince continued: “The draw comes into it a little bit, especially over a shorter trip, but a mile should be okay as it gives you plenty of time to get into the race, and we’re looking forward to the occasion.”
Prince is, however, mindful of the strength on the opposition in what could be a maximum field, and concluded: “The Abu Dhabi Turf Club have done a great job getting a strong field for Saturday. It’s going to be extremely competitive with Jonquil and Donnacha O’Brien’s horse (Comanche Brave) and Maljoom from Michael Costa’s stable, but hopefully Quddwah will go out and put up another strong performance.”
Strauss will be Japan’s first runner in Abu Dhabi and he went through a steady warm up before engaging in a swinging canter on Thursday morning.
Trainer Ryo Takei has engaged ‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira for the ride on the son of Maurice but the Brazilian was not part of this exercise on the training track at Meydan.
Takei explained that he has experimented trip wise with Strauss but that he feels 1600 metres (one mile) should be a perfect distance on the easy Abu Dhabi course.
He said: “I’ve trained for 12 years and the biggest success was winning the Japanese St Leger.
“Strauss has run over many different trips but his best is between 1800 and 2000.
“He gets fired up in every race, and coming back to the mile is good for him now.”
Although the horse got a bit coltish before his work Takei added: “He’s really quiet and good natured.
“The main reason he went to Australia last time was because Joao could ride him. Stepping up in distance we wanted Joao on board.
“Joao rates Strauss quite highly. He says he’s not really a sprinter but can do better if he settles”
There are no plans to leave Strauss in the Emirates for the World Cup.
He concluded: “We are heading back to Japan after the race.
“Japanese trainers go overseas a lot and it’s fairly common for that to happen today. I would like to follow suit.
“Being overseas doesn’t matter for me. We came here because we feel it’s the best option for him.”
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