Dubai Iconic won the opening race of the new season here over 7f from the fast-finishing Interpret, who runs in the first race. This is much tougher but with improvement likely he can get into the shake-up. Art Of War is taking a drop in class and the ratings so shouldn't be dismissed despite poor form figures but it's MAATH GOOL who looks the one to beat. Wayne Smith was on board when the son of Dubawi scored her a couple of years ago and also at Abu Dhabi last Sunday. He's had just seven races in his career and with more to come looks well handicapped. Trojan Nights has a C&D victory to his credit and will be better for his run a couple of weeks ago while Mujrayaat, a dual winner for Roger Varian in the UK, will have come on for his run behind the selection in Abu Dhabi.