Paddys Day wins Sheikh Zayed Triple Jewel
oceanport — Thanks to the HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Monday will go down in the annals of US horse racing as a historic day on two fronts — Purebred Arabian horses made their debut at the Monmouth Park and more importantly they raced ‘lasix-free’ for the first time in a US race meeting.
The festival had laid down that its races in the US will be ‘lasix-free’ and for the first time ever Purebred Arabian racing on Monday showed the way competing without the use of Lasix — the anti-bleeding medication which is used in the US but banned in many other racing countries.
A large US Labour Day holiday crowd was on hand to witness first the Apprentice jockeys from around the world race on Purebred Arabian horses and then two races later one of the best Purebred Arabian horses currently racing in the US — Paddys Day — put up a dominating show.
Two-time Arabian Horse of the Year Paddys Day was also bidding to win his third consecutive Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup US Triple Jewel which includes a $ 150,000 bonus for earning the highest points after three Sheikh Zayed Cup races in 2017.
Owned by Quarter Moon Ranch LLC and trained by Scott Powell, Paddys Day had already won the Houston and Pleasanton legs of the Triple Jewel and was racing under Keiber Coa in Monday’s $ 50,000 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup Diamond Jewel (Grade 1).
Scott Powell was strongly doublehanded as Ivory Shores had just on Saturday won the Grade 1 Buzz Brauninger Arabian Distaff Handicap and returned to action two days later. Ivory Shores under Kevin Mendez and Thess Is Awesome under Chris DeCarlo exchanged the early lead but soon Coa brought Paddys Day into the contest and after that there was only one winner.
Cheered home by the large crowd, the champion Paddys Day romped home with more than five lengths to spare from second –placed Quick and Rich under Carlos Hernandez. Thess Is Awesome finished third a further 10 lengths behind.
“The race set up perfectly for us,” said winning rider Keiber Coa. “They were going slower than I thought they were going to go. He’s a kind of horse where you have to get after him. You got to get into him to wake him up and tell him it’s time to go. He’s a really classy horse.”
Coa said that he will be accompanying Paddys Day for his trip to the UAE later this year. The 6-yearold son of Burning Sand out of the Virgule Al Maury mare AK Loretta has now won 22 of his 33 career starts, extending his all-time earnings record for an American Arabian Horse to $472,786.
When Butch Cassidy LZP became a late withdrawal in the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race, Sweden’s Ulrika Holmquist who was drawn to ride it was devastated. But, to her good luck, Valenzuela Moncada did not turn up so she got the ride on Kao Maloan SWA.
The 24-year-old veterinary student seized that opportunity and came up with a blistering finish on the Ken Danyluk-trained 4-yearold Kaolino son to win the $ 20,000 HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race and qualify for the final on November 10.
Germany’s Esther Weissmeier on Jimdandy Totherehessq led for most part of the race and had mustered a good lead heading home but Holmquist on Kao Maloan SWA began a searing run.