Hunting Ground, a winner at Wolverhampton for Mark Johnston in September, is inconsistent and high enough in the weights. Udabaa has won here in the past and makes more appeal than Doug Watson's other entry Jalaa but Paul Hanagan's mount Sefri hasn't shown much since arriving here from France. The lightly-raced Pit Stop scored twice in Ireland and could just be the type for this but Malekov shot up the weights after scoring here in March and has been unable to cope. Street Act landed a minor race over 7f here in November before finishing runner-up in a much better contest last week. It will be a surprise if he's not in the action but could just find CRY JOY has too many gears. The latter made a successful debut here last month before running into the hat-trick seeking Diwaan on New Year's Eve where he just failed to hold him in a thrilling finish.
Hunting Ground (USA) 10-1 (9-12) Tracked leaders, outpaced over 2f out, ridden and no impression 1f out, weakened inside final furlong, 9th of 11, 9l behind Desert Snow (8-10) at Wolverhampton 1m 4f hcp 0-95 (3) in Oct.
Jalaa (IRE) (9-0) 7th of 8, 18l behind Interpret (9-3) at Jebel Ali(UAE) 1m 1f stks (3yo+) in Dec.
Sefri (USA) (9-0) 5th of 10, 4l behind Jutland (9-0) at Jebel Ali(UAE) 1m 2f 3yo Listed stks (1).
Pit Stop (IRE) 2-1fav (9-6) Soon chased leaders in 8th, ridden 1f out, soon no impression, one pace,, 7th of 16, 2 3/4l behind Elusive Time (9-11) at Curragh 1m hcp gf in Sep.
Respect Me (8-9) last of 5, 14l behind Jayed Jidan (8-6) at Jebel Ali(UAE) 1m 3yo stks.
Malekov (IRE) (8-9) 3rd of 12, 6l behind Ukrainian (9-1) at Abu Dhabi(UAE) 1m 4f hcp gd.
Ibn Al Nafis (USA) 33-1 (8-13) 8th of 13, 12l behind One Man Band (9-2) at Meydan(UAE) 1m hcp.
Cry Joy (USA) 11-2 (8-10) 2nd of 14, hd behind Diwaan (9-1) at Meydan(UAE) 1m 3f hcp in Dec.
Udabaa (IRE) (8-8) 7th of 12, 31l behind Ukrainian (9-1) at Abu Dhabi(UAE) 1m 4f hcp gd.
Street Act (USA) 9-2 (8-8) 2nd of 9, 4 1/2l behind Layl (9-0) at Meydan(UAE) 1m 1f hcp.
