Official quotes from the $200,000 Dubawi Stakes (G3)

Final Time : 1:11.68

Margin of Victory: 1.75 Lengths

Mike Kaye (principal, Touch Gold Racing), Owner, RAVEN’S CORNER (1^st)—It’s fantastic. We’ve been knocking on the door. Every time we have run in graded races, we tend to get a wide stall. We thought we had him absolutely perfect today and as good as we’ve ever had him. He travelled like much the best horse. They went super-quick on quite a slow track and he got a little tired at the end, but he’s won quite convincingly. It’s pleasing. We’ll see how he comes out, but the (Group 3) Al Shindagha (Sprint) would be the plan. If we give him a little break, it would be between that and the Dubai Golden Shaheen (on Mar. 30).

Satish Seemar, Trainer, RAVEN’S CORNER (1^st)— “Exactly what we were saying before the race. If everything goes just perfect for him, which it did today, this is who he is. He’s had his problems with this and that, but everything was right for him today. He has proven before by breaking a track record for seven (furlongs last February) that he’s a good horse and today he’s back. He’s going to go step-by-step, but the (Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint) is likely.”

Richard Mullen, Jockey, RAVEN’S CORNER (1^st)— “A lot of work has gone behind the scenes. He is a horse who has to have things nice and calm, no distractions, no changes. That is why I have not sat on him this year, I just said to the boss, leave Santiago (to ride him) he knows him well. I just jumped on him on race day. It probably helped it was a small field and we were able to load last. You know he is a horse who have a little quirk, it goes from the elusive quality bred into them, but he is extremely talented and we always felt it.

“Six furlong was his trip, I mean I know last he ran and he got rightly put in his place, in the races last year. He is a bit like a 3-year- old sprinter in England, you have to run him in them races harden him up for what is going to be his in the sprint category.

“He is a very fast horse he does things his own way and he likes to be calm and relaxed and he is ultra-talented as we saw him there, he has won a very talented Dubawi Stakes. Drafted is probably the bench mark for our local sprinters, and he is a very talented horse and luckily we beat him today. I think they are two of the best sprinters on dirt in the UAE at the moment, and they are going to contest many battles in the months to come.”

Doug Watson, Trainer, DRAFTED (2^nd) & MY CATCH (3^rd)—MY CATCH, I’m not quite sure what happened with him. DRAFTED, he’s impressing me every time. He’s in with a shot in every race and horses don’t close like that here. He made up tons of lengths in that last (150m). He’s a proper horse.

Sam Hitchcott, Jockey, DRAFTED (2^nd)—It was a good run, bad trip. Plain and simple.

Pat Dobbs, Jockey, MY CATCH (3^rd)— “I was forced to go a little quicker than I wanted earlier on. But once he got to travel really sweet, but he just got a bit tired up the straight, he will improve for the run.

Yes, too hard (on working hard to get him to the front).”