Photo Credit: Andrew Watkins
One of the top milers in the UAE will return in the Dubai Creek Mile (Listed) on Dec. 19 in the form of Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi’s Kimbear, who embarks on his 2019-2020 season in the 1600m affair. Trained by Doug Watson, the highly regarded Group 3-winning son of Temple City will look to improve upon a season that did not quite live up to expectations, while not being without merit.
“He’s doing great,” Watson said. “I almost wanted to run him Thursday night in the Garhoud Sprint, he’s doing that well. We ran (third) in that last year. His last work was exceptional. He’s going into the race great.
“He had some foot issues and we couldn’t quite get it right last season,” he continued. “That extra time with the foot was really good for the horse and he’s doing pretty well right now. We’re hoping for a better year than we had last year with him.”
A winner of Super Saturday’s Group 3 Burj Najaar in 2018, the compact dark bay with a spunky attitude appears primed to improve upon the form that saw him finish fourth and sixth in the last two editions of the $1.5 million Godolphin Mile (G2), as well as a respectable sixth in the 2017 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and second in the Lazaro Barrera (G3)—the last two when trained Stateside by Eric Kruljac. Overall, Kimbear has three wins and has finished in the money in 13 of 19 lifetime starts. Last season, he was also second in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (G2) to North America and fourth in the Firebreak (G3) to stablemate Muntazah.
