Trainer Oertel bounces back

– Middle East-based South African trainer Ernst Oertel has suffered immensely this year but found a reason to smile when he won both championship races in Abu Dhabi on Sunday at the Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Arabian racing festival.

Oertel saddled Munzade to win the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice Jockeys World Championship, in which Britain’s Emma Sayer finished third on another Oertel runner, while Molahen El Alhan came home first in the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship, a contest full of misfortune for Ireland’s representative Evanna McCutcheon, who trains classy

London

sprinter Maarek.

Just over three months ago Oertel had his left leg amputated at the knee due to extreme septicemia following surgery to remove a titanium plate fitted after a riding accident.

The trauma made his reception from racegoers all the warmer on a night when both winners carried the colours of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Oertel, the season’s leading trainer who was formerly based in Britain, said: “I’m very happy as we like to support these races and am grateful to Sheikh Mansoor for supporting them.

It is a brilliant thing they are doing especially for the young jockeys.

"They nearly learn more riding Arabs than thoroughbreds.

"Silvestre de Sousa will tell you how good it is to learn on them.”

Munzade was ridden by Turkey’s Vahdettin Kaplan, aged 20.

He said: “I was dreaming on the flight over here that I could win, so to achieve it is a fantastic feeling.”

The winning rider on Oertel’s second strike, Jadey Pietrasiewicz from the Netherlands.

She was making up for lost time having missed out two years ago with injury.

She said: “I always hoped to come back, and to win is amazing.”–