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Daaher uses Stymie as Dubai prep Highly touted Grade 1 winner DAAHER (Awesome Again) didn't make an impact in his 2008 bow, the Donn H. (G1) on February 2, but will get a second chance on Saturday when taking on five rivals in the $75,000 Stymie H. over Aqueduct's inner dirt. The bay is a candidate for either the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1), where he'll face Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike), or the Godolphin Mile (UAE-G2), both of which will take place on March 29. "Mainly, we want to try a different surface and get him out of the heat," trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said of his decision to ship Daaher to Aqueduct. "We could have elected to go to the Fair Grounds or Oaklawn, but the races for him there are closer to the Dubai races and that would have also involved a lot of shipping. By sending him to New York, he goes to a barn where we already have a full staff." "I just hope he rebounds," said regular rider Mike Luzzi, who has the call in the Stymie. "(The Donn) was a little disappointing. I knew he was in trouble around the first turn. He's a fast horse, so he should be able to run fast early and go forward. Daaher led for the first half of the Donn before fading badly at the end to finish seventh, defeating just one horse. Beaten a total of 19 1/4 lengths on that day, the four-year-old had easily captured the Cigar Mile H. (G1) and Jerome H. (G2) in his two prior starts. "It was his first race of the year, but I don't think he needed a race because we hadn't stopped on him," McLaughlin tried to explain the subpar performance. "He did receive a lot of pressure on the lead, which combined with the surface and heat, could have been a factor." If Daaher does well on Saturday, he'll ship back to Florida before heading to Dubai on March 18, according to his conditioner. The colt will have to tote 122 pounds in Saturday's event, two more than what he carried in the Donn. Among those challenging the bay in the Stymie are Grade 1 veteran EVENING ATTIRE (Black Tie Affair [Ire]) and multiple stakes hero MALIBU MOONSHINE (Malibu Moonshine), the respective one-two finishers from last year's edition of the 1 1/8-mile test.
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