When the proven class of the field is also the fastest horse in the race, and by a lot, the combination proves virtually unbeatable. Botanical is the 6-5 morning line favorite to win Thursday's sprint feature. He figures to be a lot less by post time and that assessment seems justified.

The connections of Botanical finally decided that the son of Seeking The Gold was really a dirt horse. What took them so long, we can only guess.

Since switching to dirt at 4 and shifting to the shed of Saaed bin Suroor, he has raced very well in top sprint company in Dubai, including an excellent third in the emirates' premiere sprint race on the World Cup undercard.

He qualifies for today's "non-winners of 2 other than" and both lifetime wins have come when fresh. It has been 96 days since his last start. Jerry Bailey rides.

While almost any of his four rivals could finish second, we'll look at two. Byanosejoe (3-1), the field's lone 3-year-old, flirted briefly with classics contenders earlier this year and was fairly competitive. Both lifetime wins came at today's 6-furlong distance. Juan Rodriguez, deputizing for Dick Dutrow, has won with nine of 27 horses following the "trainer change."

Anew (10-1) is attractive because of his expected lofty odds and that he qualifies for today's conditions despite the fact he's finished first thrice. Perhaps Cornelio Velasquez can sit the pocket and surprise the rest of these late.

THE PLAY: We will not take odds-on in this space as regular readers know because we are in this for the long haul. If you are so inclined, however, 3-5 might be fair odds. If they ran this race 100 times, it's not unreasonable to project he would win 60, hence 3-5.

Our play will be an exacta part wheel of Botanical first with Byanosejoe and Anew second.