SOLE Power will be the only Irish runner on Dubai World Cup night next Saturday.

The evergreen Eddie Lynam-trained sprinter runs in the five-furlong Al Quoz Sprint on turf, his fifth attempt at the race in which he has been placed twice previously. Richard Hughes will ride the eight-year-old and will be hoping to fare better than when finishing seventh in a prep race at Meydan two weeks ago.

Lynam reported yesterday: “Richard was disappointed with the horse the last day, and we have to bear in mind that Sole Power just hasn’t performed in Dubai for the past couple of seasons. However, he is working well and the signs are good.”

The 16-runner field contains three horses from Hong Kong, six from Britain and two from the USA. “There should be plenty of pace and, in an ideal world, I would prefer if we are drawn in the middle. They tend to race up the middle and veer towards the stands in the closing stages. Sole Power will be held up as usual and hopefully he can find a way through.”

Asked to comment on why no other Irish-trained horses are engaged at the meeting, Lynam said: “It’s not a surprise to me. You could see from the original entry stage in January that Aidan O’Brien did not have horses of the calibre of St Nicholas Abbey for the turf races and perhaps he did not fancy sending anything for the UAE Derby, which is now on dirt.

“David Marnane and Michael Halford tried to qualify horses for the big night but, as can happen us all, the horses came up a bit short. Stayers like Saddlers’ Rock [John Oxx] and Royal Diamond [Johnny Murtagh] are not around, and neither Jim Bolger nor Dermot Weld really target this meeting.”

The feature race is the $10 million Dubai World Cup, also being run on dirt. The clear favourite for the race is last year’s Kentucky Derby winner and reigning Horse of the Year in America, California Chrome.