Heros De Lagarde secures Group 1 glory at Abu Dhabi meet
ABU DHABI: The bold move to allow Heros De Lagarde to tackle the Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Championship paid rich dividends as the admirable grey secured Group 1 glory with a classy victory.
The talented seven-year-old had finished a creditable second to Al Laith at Meydan on his previous start in Group 2 company just a week before his Abu Dhabi assignment, however he displayed no ill effects to win cosily.
Ridden with patience and confidence by regular partner and title aspirant Connor Beasley, the Ibrahim Al Hadhrami trainee moved sweetly throughout much of the 2200m feature before puting the race to bed when given the office by his rider.
Bahwan kept on gamely to take the runnersup berth a length adrit for rider Saif Al Balushi and trainer Saeed Al Shamsi, while Ajrad Athbah was third (Bernardo Pinheiro/majed Al Jahoori).
“He travelled around there lovely, and the only slight concern was the step back up in trip,” said Beasley.
“However, I had a lovely run up the rail which probably saved me a few lengths and won me the race to be honest.
“We had a nice clean run through, and I could put his turn of foot to good use. He was obviously backing up quickly enough ater his run at Meydan, but he was impressive again today and has had a really good season.
“It’s all systems go for the Dubai World Cup meeting now and we’ll keep our head down and keep kicking until then.”
BESTEVAH ANTICS ALLOWS JAZI JOY: There was high drama in the opening race when RB Bestevah ducked violently to his let when hitting the front under rider Adrie De Vries, badly hampering and unseating Charlie Bennet from Al Barq to hand victory to the Oscar Chavezridden HM Jazi for trainer Ahmed Al Mehairbi.
Panamanian rider Chavez can do litle wrong at present, and he was certainly the chief beneficiary with Al Barq taken out of the race and the wayward RB Bestevah hanging his chance away; his mount prevailing by a length with Munir (Bernardo Pinheiro/majed Al Jahoori) back in third, three-quarters of a length in arrears.
Thankfully, Bennet was unharmed by the dramatic incident and hauled himself from the canvas to bounce back in style in race four, when booting Unlimited to a game success in the 0-85 mares and fillies handicap for in-form trainer Jaber Bitar.
Benet’s willing partner found plenty off the bridle to repel Shurooq Al Wathba who was another runner on the card to run well for jockey/trainer combination Bernardo Pinheiro and Majed Al Jahoori.
“I thought I had a couple of good chances today, but obviously things didn’t quite go to plan in the first race!” quipped Bennet.
“I knew this filly would run well as she won well here the other day and her stable has her in great order now.