The Al Hammadi quintet is headed by veteran Balad Al Reef with the 11yo attempting to concede weight to his 11 rivals with Richard Mullen in the saddle.
A regular fixture in this Al Ain Marathon Series, Mullen's mount is seeking a ninth career success, seventh at Al Ain and a third in this 4100m second round. He actually won all three legs in 2017 but has not tasted victory since landing this race in 2020.
He was well beaten in the first leg, a 3200m handicap, three weeks ago, won by stable companion Whistle under Jesus Rosales who is again in the saddle.
The 6yo was having his first taste of the staying series and appeared to relish the extra distance, posting a second career and first turf career success in the process.
Stable companions Octave and Hareer Al Reef have also won Al Ain Marathon Series races in the past whereas Al Hammadi's fifth runner, Al Tiryaq, is tackling a trip further than 2200m for the first time and has not raced on dirt beyond 2000m.
Af Eshaar is a fascinating contender for Ernst Oertel, Khalid Khalif Al Nabooda and the owner's retained jockey, Tadhg O'Shea.
His sole victory, after 12 starts, was in a handicap over 2000m here at Al Ain just over a year ago when he stayed on dourly to snatch victory as the line approached. All his five subsequent outings have been at Al Ain, so connections obviously feel he favours the surface compared to the Abu Dhabi turf, but he has always looked one-paced, often staying on when it is too late.
This extreme stamina test could prove just what he needs at this stage of his career and he definitely appears one to keep an eye on.
Fandim , the mount of Bernardo Pinheiro for Majed Al Jahoori and Al Wathba Racing, as well as stablemate Sufyan , to be ridden by Sandro Paiva for Yas Racing, are others to consider.
The latter, having already landed the 3200m first round, was runner-up in this second leg in 2020, behind the aforementioned Balad Al Reef. He has not won since though and was well behind Whistle last time.
The main support race is the concluding 1000m conditions contest which has attracted a select field of six and a case could be made for each of the sextet with plenty of collateral form on offer.
Trained locally by Helal Alalawi, Ghazwan Al Khalediah is a regular in similar Al Ain races and has posted all five career victories here, the latest four all over this 1000m.
The most recent of those was last April when landing the four runner Al Ain Sprint, a Prestige contest when chased home by MH Rahal, Rawaa and Arif, all back in opposition on Saturday.
Elise Jeanne's stable star MH Rahal gained revenge at the beginning of November, also over this 1000m, when Alalawi's charge was well beaten in seventh. The 8yo entire has also won over 1700m at Sharjah this season, in early January.
When Jeanne's charge was victorious here in November, he was chased home by Rawaa, to be ridden by Pinheiro for Yas Racing and Al Jahoori. A 7yo mare, she has won half of her four starts over this 1000m course and distance, most recently in the middle of February last year when Ghazwan Al Khalediah was the runner-up.
Homebred by the Omani Royal Cavalry and trained by Ibrahim Al Hadhrami, Arif is thrice a winner over this track and trip, including the most recent of his six career victories at the end of January last year.
