She arrived in Dubai with a huge reputation and Japan’s super filly Almond Eye proved herself on a world stage at Meydan when showing brilliant acceleration to win the US$6 million Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World.

The Lord Kanaloa filly, trained by Sakae Kunieda to win all three legs of the Filly Triple Crown and the Japan Cup at home, was produced with a well-timed run by Christophe Lemaire to land the 1800m Dubai Turf.

The race provided a great result for Japan with compatriot Vivlos a length and a quarter back in second and Deirdre finishing fourth. British trainer David O’Meara saddled Lord Glitters to produce a career-best run to take third.

QUOTES

Sakae Kunieda, Trainer, ALMOND EYE (1st)—“It was a really great race. She broke well, settled well, got a good position and accelerated well to win well. It was the result I thought we could get and I’m happy she proved us right. I was nervous, I’ve lost my voice. Almond Eye can continue my dreams, so next we’ll go to Europe, our dream is to take her to the Arc.”

Christophe Lemaire, Jockey, ALMOND EYE (1st)—“She was very impressive. The way she accelerated is unbelievable. Today was her first start of the year, and quite early on she was actually in front of the rest of the field. I think she relaxed a little bit and she had a bit of a margin on them. The distance was a little bit short for her today but she is so good that I had no fear about that. When you have the right horse and you have confidence in your horse, you can go out confident no matter what happens - and she's the right horse. Hopefully, there are some big victories on the horizon for her.”

Yasuo Tomomichi, Trainer, VIVLOS (2nd)—“She had a really good run for her last start. She likes Dubai so much and thanks to the great support we have received from Dubai Racing Club, she could show her best effort today. This is her last start, so I would like to come back to Dubai with her offspring.”

Michael Barzalona, Jockey, VIVLOS (2nd)—“She has shown again that she loves Dubai and this race especially. She won it two years ago and now she has finished second twice. She met a better filly in Almond Eye, but Vivlos fought very hard for me to the end. Also I want to say well done to the connections because they were thinking about retiring her, but they wanted to try here once again as they know she likes Meydan so much.”

Daniel Tudhope, Jockey, LORD GLITTERS (3rd)—“We thought coming into the race, he’d run very well. He’d been training very well at home. We think he’s improving and he’s going to be a nicer horse this year. We’re delighted with that. We were beaten by a very good filly, she’s world class.”

David O’Meara, Trainer, Lord Glitters (3rd) – “We’re delighted with him. You’re familiar with some of the milers we’ve taken around the world and he’s probably better than them.

“We were delighted with that run tonight. I thought it was a fantastic effort. Obviously, the Japanese filly (Almond Eye) and Vivlos had won and placed in this race before and they bring a very high level of form here. We’ve beaten the rest of them very well. I’m delighted with him.

“The plan was just to hold him up and get him to settle. Sometimes he can be a bit keen in his races and we had an idea we might end up behind her (Almond Eye.) It wasn’t the plan to follow her, but I thought Danny gave the horse a lovely ride and we had every chance. We were just beaten by two horses that were better than us on the day.”

“We might run him in the Lockinge (May 18, Newbury) next. I’ll speak with Geoff (Turnbull) and see what he wants to do. I’d like to run him in the Juddmonte (August 21) at York.”

Joao Moreira, Jockey, DEIRDRE (4th)—“I was happy with the run, to finish fourth was about what you’d expect from her.”

Frankie Dettori, Jockey, WITHOUT PAROLE (5th)—“A bit rusty, as he was off for a while, but he ran a solid race."

Zac Purton, Jockey, SOUTHERN LEGEND (6th)—“It was just a fair run.”

Oisin Murphy, Jockey, CENTURY DREAM (7th)—“I wanted him to relax out in front as he can be an exuberant horse on his day. In a deep race he ran very well.”

Anton Marcus, Jockey, MAJESTIC MAMBO (8th)—“I was pretty pleased with the run, but I think he wants a bit further.”

William Buick, Jockey, WOOTTON (9th)—“He ran well last time but was a bit up against it today.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe, Jockey, YULONG PRINCE (10th)—“He gave me good feel through the race and ran very well considering he hasn’t run since last June and had an interrupted preparation. He’s a horse with great potential.”

Ryan Moore, Jockey, I CAN FLY (11th)—“She ran disappointingly.”

Christophe Soumillon, Jockey, DREAM CASTLE (13th)—“He travelled well, but when I asked him to quicken on the turn there was nothing there. I don't know why.”