Friday the 9th of March saw the Jebel Ali racing season’s penultimate race meeting. The highlight of this race meeting was the Shadwell Farm handicap run over 1800m for a prize money of AED 100,000 in which only six horses ran. The star of race was Salem Bin Ghadayer trained Interconnection ridden by Xavier Ziani. He was put to test from the beginning of the race. He was the leader throughout and won comfortably in front of E Charpy trained Mudaarab and Antonio Fresu ridden Interpret who came in second and third respectively.
“He is a new horse for us this season and took a while to settle in,” he said. “His first runs were not that good, but when we looked back at his UK form he seemed to run well in blinkers so we have put them on and it seems to have worked. With a summer in the UAE under his belt, hopefully, he is going to be a very nice horse next season; it is a shame this campaign is finishing because he is really coming to himself and thriving.”
The race meeting started with a lesser handicap run also over 1800m but for a prize money of AED 85,000. It was a tough race as R Bouresly trained Aridity had to be pushed to the limit by Bernardo Pinheiro. D Watson trained Tradesman and Antonio Fresu ridden Aleko came in close second and third respectively.
“This is first winner at Jebel Ali and third in my debut UAE season, so I am very happy,” Pinheiro said. “As a jockey, this is a very competitive place to come, so I have to be pleased with that. The trainer and his staff told me this horse would run well and they were right, so I am very grateful for the opportunity. Jebel Ali is certainly very different to anything I have come cross at home in Brazil, where I am from, and this is an invaluable experience.”
Antonio Fresu at last got what he wanted, a win but in another handicap this time run over 1400m for a prize money of AED 95,000. He did this while riding Above Normal who is trained by Satish Seemar. This was the fourth race of the day. Richard Mullen riding Galesburg and D Watson trained Denzille Lane came is second and third respectively.
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By Apurva Chavan, Racing Writer, apurva.chavan@secretariatsworld.com