SEEMAR AND MULLEN STRIKE IN ABU DHABI WITH GALESBURG
▶ Capital win comes less than 24 hours after trainer and jockey took two races at Meydan
Satish Seemar and Richard Mullen picked up in Abu Dhabi yesterday where they left off in Dubai to claim the solitary prize for thoroughbreds at the capital’s equestrian club.
Having won two races at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday, the trainer and jockey found their way to the winner’s circle as Galesburg secured a first win in the UAE at the 10th attempt in the handicap for horses rated 68-79 run over 1,600 metres.
UAE champion jockey Mullen raced on the rails in third behind the early pace setters Sahaafy under Jesus Rosales and Mutawakked with Jim Crowley aboard, both in the silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid.
Mullen weaved through horses to make his challenge from the outside of the front two and charged on to win by more than two lengths.
“We honestly thought this horse had a live chance to win tonight,” Mullen said of the five-year-old gelded bay son of Shamardal.
“He has raced at Jebel Ali most of the season and he found it a little bit sharp over there. We wanted to find a turf race for him and nice to find this one, an ideal mile on the grass.
“He produced what we always thought he could. It was nice to get off the mark. He breaks really smartly but unfortunately he lacks a little bit of early pace.
“He runs over six to seven [furlongs, 1,200m to 1,400m] and gets detached, and always has an eye-catching fast finish. It was very frustrating to say he’s a very game horse.”
The other six races on the Abu Dhabi card were for Purebred Arabians and p roved a productive night for Emirati trainer Abdallah Al Hammadi, who saddled three winners. Fernando Jara was atop two of them – Goshawke in Race 3 and Bushrah Al Reef in Race 4.
Sam Hitchcott completed the hat-trick by taking the concluding handicap on board Al Tiryaq in Race 7.
Jara steered Goshawke to victory in the Al Mafraq, a maiden over 1,600m with a purse of Dh80,000.
He did not have to wait long for his next winner as a halfhour later he guided Bushrah Al Reef to victory in Al Jazira, a handicap over the same distance that was also worth Dh80,000.
“He has run well in his two previous starts when I rode and I though he had a good chance of getting off the mark tonight, and he did it very nicely,” said the 2007 Dubai World Cup winning jockey from Panama. “We knew Bushrah Al Reef, too, had a chance at this level because I have ridden her a couple of times and won a prize with her.”
Bernardo Pinheiro rode his first winner in the UAE when powering the Khalifa Al Neyadi-trained AF Sanad to victory in the opening race, the Al Khazna, a handicap over 1,400m and worth Dh80,000.
Tadhg O’Shea took the next on Eric Lemartinel’s Elyaah, who was six lengths better than Sihrenna in the maiden over 1,600m.
Omani apprentice Saif Al Balushi produced a flying finish to take the Wathba Stallions Cup on Ernst Oertel’s Madanthis. ES Fatek, with Harry Bentley in the saddle, was one-and-a-quarter lengths back in second.
He breaks really smartly but unfortunately he lacks a little bit of early pace. He runs over six to seven [furlongs] and gets detached, and always has an eyecatching fast finish
RICHARD MULLEN
Jockey to Galesburg