Sunday the 4th of March saw the conclusion of a fantastic race meeting at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club. Seven races were completed and in fascinating style. The feature races of the day were HH The President Cup (TB), Liwa Oasis & Arabian Triple Crown R2.
Doug Watson trained and ridden by Jim Crowley, Muntazah won the HH The President Cup in style. This was HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum fifth title in six years. Muntazah was chased by Eqtiraan who came in second and by Portamento who came in third.
“He is a really nice horse and one we have high hopes for. Unfortunately he had a bad draw in his race at the carnival and that proved too much of an obstacle for him,” Watson said: “He has done this well and, hopefully, he is going to be an exciting horse for us next season.”
Another highlight of the day The Liwa Oasis, which was run just before the HH The President Cup. The reigning UAE Champion Jockey, Richard Mullen won ridding Rmmas, a Jean de Roüalle trained five year old. Rmmas won the race ahead of Bon Baiser De Faust and Rb Torch who came in second and third respectively.
Mullen said: “Fair play to the horse because drawn nine in a big competitive field like that is never ideal. He won nicely here over 1200m last time but that was from a nice low draw whereas today we were out wider. The jockey continued: “That is now three wins for the horse from just four UAE starts and, trip wise, he seems very versatile. I imagine that will be his last race of the campaign and, fingers crossed, he will be an exciting sort for next season.”
The 1400m Group 2 Arabian Triple Crown R2 saw Goshawke being ridden patiently by Fernando Jara. The connection and trainer Abdallah Al Hammadi were happoy with the performance. Riyam and Af Al Bairaq finished close to come second and third respectively.
Jara said: “We thought we had a live chance coming here this evening and everything pretty much to plan.”
Click Here for full results.
By Apurva Chavan, Racing Writer, apurva.chavan@secretariatsworld.com