Al Asayl target more glory in Sunday thriller at Abu Dhabi
abu dhabi — Abu Dhabi’s turf track hosts a six-race card on Sunday, completing three consecutive days of racing on a busy UAE weekend. The meeting is highlighted by the Listed 1600m Abu Dhabi Championship which has attracted a field of 15, with a trio representing Al Asayl, including the only two previous victors in the race.
Jaahiz, a course and distance winner on his only racecourse appearance, will again be ridden by Jesus Rosales, while Gerald Avranche partners RB Grynade, successful just last Friday at Al Ain over 1600m. Ridden on that occasion by Tadhg O’Shea, he has been deserted by the season’s leading jockey this time in favour of stable companion Asyyad, third on his sole racecourse appearance, also over 1600m at Al Ain.
All three are trained, at Al Asayl, by Eric Lemartinel for The President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and O’Shea said: “Again I was faced with a very difficult choice and the Al Asayl team certainly have three good chances. The other pair have both won but Asyyad showed a lot of promise, after a slow start, on his one outing and has a lot of potential. Hopefully I picked right but all three are capable of running big races in an open contest.”
As well as the aforementioned two previous winners, the field of 15 also includes a pair having their first career starts, including El Faust. Owned by The Royal Cavalry, who are also responsible for last year’s winner of this race the ultra-impressive Maisoor, El Faust is trained by Ibrahim Al Hadhrami. The mount of Adrie de Vries, he is joined by the filly AF Tosattar, in having their first racecourse appearance. She is one of no less than five in the race trained by Ernst Oertel for champion owner, Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda. Antonio Fresu has booked Shareef KB suggesting the three-year-old is the main hope, although he was well beaten on debut behind RB Grynade, just last week.
Over 1400m and, like the Abu Dhabi Championship, also restricted to three-year-olds, but to those foaled in the UAE, both the Abu Dhabi Fillies and Colts Classics carry Prestige Status. As with the feature, there is little form to go on with only a handful of previous winners joined by a smattering of those making their debuts and both have attracted the maximum field allowed of 16.