Magic Wand among Irish contenders at Meydan Magic Wand leads a five-strong team into battle for Aidan O'Brien on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan. The Ballydoyle handler is not represented in the main event itself, but fires a twin assault at the preceding Dubai Sheema Classic - a race he won in 2013 with the hugely popular St Nicholas Abbey. Magic Wand is very much the Ballydoyle first string, ahead of stablemate Hunting Horn. The Galileo filly was an impressive winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer and was last seen filling the runner-up spot in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational in America. The likely favourite is Charlie Appleby's Old Persian, who landed the King Edward VII Stakes and the Great Voltigeur at York last season in Britain. He bids to break his duck at the highest level following a Group Two victory at Meydan three weeks ago. Appleby said: "He is a Royal Ascot and Great Voltigeur winner and is a solid Group Two horse. Hopefully with that natural Dubawi progression from three to four, we will see further progress from him. "He is stepping up into Group One class again, but he deserves one next to his name." O'Brien saddles recent Dundalk scorer I Can Fly in the Dubai Turf - a race in which Japanese superstar Almond Eye is the main attraction. Sakae Kunieda's four-year-old filly is unbeaten in five starts, including top-level triumphs in the Japanese 1000 Guineas and the Japanese Oaks before beating the boys in November's Japan Cup. Leading French jockey Christophe Lemaire has steered Almond Eye to each of her last four victories and is relishing the opportunity to renew the partnership this weekend. He said: "Almond Eye can handle any kind of trip and any kind of race. She’s a tremendous filly with a lot of ability. "She’s very special to me and very special on the track as well. "The engine is still there and I’m really looking forward to riding her on Saturday." Other contenders include Saeed bin Suroor’s Dream Castle, Appleby’s Wootton and the John Gosden-trained Without Parole. O'Brien's first runner of the night is Lost Treasure, who will be an outsider in the Al Quoz Sprint. The odds-on favourite is Appleby’s King’s Stand hero Blue Point, while Richard Fahey runs his Qipco British Champions Sprint winner Sands Of Mali. Appleby said: "Blue Point has always been one of our stable stars and has been faultless this winter. "For me he is the ultimate professional in the sprint division and I feel they have got him to beat." O’Brien won last year’s UAE Derby with the impressive Mendelssohn, and is this year represented by Van Beethoven. His rivals include Jahbath - who will put his unbeaten record on an artificial surface on the line for William Haggas — and Appleby's UAE Oaks heroine Divine Image Haggas said: "He’s travelled out fine and everyone is very happy with him. "He’s had plenty of runs on the all-weather in Britain — I’m not sure how much more practice we could give him. "The dirt in Dubai is completely different, obviously, but he looks to have a good draw — (stall) two is better than 14, I suppose." Appleby said: "She has won her last two starts in the UAE Oaks and then in a trial for a Derby against the colts last time, both over this trip. She has good course and distance form over the trip and on that surface. "The most important thing is that she has experience on that track." The only Irish-trained horse on the card outside the O’Brien quartet is David Marnane’s Tato Key in the Golden Shaheen. The Argentinian recruit has already been placed twice at Meydan this year, behind the reopposing Drafted. Marnane said: "We’ve been very pleased with his two runs in the trials and with this being his third run, he should be at his peak now. "He seems in great nick and I hope there’s a bit of improvement there. If there’s a bit more of an injection of pace early in the race, I would hope that would be to his advantage as well. "You wouldn’t see many Irish-trained horses running in sprints on the dirt, so if we can pull it off it will be a great buzz."
