Mimi Kakushi, Nations Pride Win at Dubai Carnival

Mimi Kakushi  outlasted California shipper Ami Please  to win the U.A.E. Oaks (G3) at Meydan Racecourse in the highlight of the Feb. 17 Dubai Carnival meeting with both fillies earning consideration for the first weekend of May at Churchill Downs.

Also on the evening's program, Nations Pride  got going on a 4-year-old campaign likely to bring him back to New York this summer with a handy win in the co-featured Dubai Millennium Stakes (G3).

The U.A.E. Oaks is the only foreign leg of the Churchill Downs-anointed Road to the Kentucky Oaks and the connections of both Mimi Kakushi and Ami Please mentioned that race in their analysis.

Mimi Kakushi, a City of Light   filly racing for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, came to the U.A.E. Oaks off a romping victory in the U.A.E. One Thousand Guineas Jan. 20 while Ami Please made her first start of the year just days after arriving from California.

The UAE Oaks is won by #5 MIMI KAKUSHI, who has to work hard to pass the gritty @DougONeill1 runner #1 Ami Please. The winner is by Breeders' Cup and Pegasus World Cup hero City of Light. pic.twitter.com/cJVKJAWvyc

— TVG (@TVG) February 17, 2023

Jockey Antonio Fresu gunned Ami Please right to the front heading into the first turn on the Meydan dirt course with Mimi Kakushi and jockey Mickael Barzalona in close pursuit. Fresu did his best to get Ami Please a breather down the backstretch but could never shake loose from the pace pressure.

Turning into the straight, Mimi Kakushi started to cut into the lead and finally went by to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The final stages of the 1,900 meters (about 1 3/16 miles) were run in slow motion as both leaders paid the price for early speed and the final time was a glacial 2:00.02. Still, none of the other five was able to gain any ground in the stretch run with Asawer  reporting third, 3 3/4 lengths behind Ami Please.

Ami Please, a Goldencents   filly trained by Doug O'Neill, had a single win from five starts as a 2-year-old in California while racing primarily on the turf. That record included a fourth-place finish in the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar and a third in the Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

O'Neill said before the race Ami Please acted well on dirt or turf and immediately after the finish indicated her performance might be encouraging enough to consider the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

"Yes," O'Neill said. "Really nice."

Mimi Kakushi's trainer, Salem bin Ghadayer, discussed both the U.A.E. Derby (G2) and Kentucky Oaks as potential targets.

"We need to see which horses will be in the (U.A.E.) Derby and the Kentucky Oaks," bin Ghadayer said. "I don't see a big difference between her and those boys (running in Dubai)."

Mimi Kakushi earned 50 points for the victory, putting her on top of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard, two points ahead of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Eclipse Award winner Wonder Wheel . Ami Please accrued 20 points and sits in a five-way tie for third.

On the rest of the program, Godolphin runners generally had their way.

Charlie Appleby had trained six of the last seven Dubai Millennium Stakes winners for Godolphin going in and made it seven of eight as Nations Pride came rolling down the stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths with William Buick aboard. Zagrey  was gaining late without threatening the winner and Godolphin also landed third with Ottoman Fleet .

Nations Pride finished off his 2022 season with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Keeneland after plundering the rich New York turf events in the summertime. He was second in the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) in July, won the $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) in August, and followed that with a victory in the $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes (G3T) back at Belmont Park in September.

"He was a class horse last year as a 3-year-old. He's going to go on to better things," Buick said.

Appleby, mentally sorting through the lengthy roster of Godolphin stars, said Nations Pride may give others a chance on Super Saturday.

"We'll probably leave this horse until World Cup night and see how things develop," he said. He earlier had hinted at contesting a race in England in springtime before shipping back across the Atlantic.

Siskany  came with a bold run down the stretch to post a dominating victory in the Nad Al Sheba Trophy (G3), also for Buick and Appleby. The 2,810 meters (about 1 3/4 miles) is a prep for the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) on World Cup night at 3,200 meters.

"He's been rock solid, this guy. Hopefully he can make up into a Gold Cup horse now," Buick said.

Appleby and Buick also paired up to win the Lord Glitters Handicap with New Kingdom at 1,600 meters (about one mile) on the turf and trainer Saeed bin Suroor saddled the exacta for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's crew in the Jebel Ali Free Zone Handicap at 1,200 meters (about six furlongs) down the turf straight with City Walk and Open Mind.