Crowley a double winner for Sheikh Hamdan at Meydan Racecourse
Jim Crowley scooped both Group 2 prizes on offer for two different trainers in the silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid at the Dubai World Cup Carnival meeting yesterday.
The 2016 British champion jockey steered the Ali Rashid Al Raihe-trained Ertijaal to victory in the Meydan Sprint and powered Mike de Kock’s Janoobi in the Zabeel Mile.
Ertijaal underlined his status as the best local-trained sprinter in the country by taking the opener for his second win in two starts this season.
Crowley was quickly out of the gates and bowled along to the front to get Ertijaal home by a head over Godolphin’s Blue Point under William Buick. “He’s done it before and when he does, he’s better off taking any horse on,” Crowley said of the seven year old gelding by Oasis Dream.
Ertijaal won the prize for a second successive year, and his rider was not sure if he would have another run before making his third appearance in the US$1million (Dh3.67m) Al Quoz Sprint in the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 31.
“That’s up to the connections to decide where he goes next,” said Crowley, who has ridden Ertijaal to four of his past five victories and third in the other.
On board Janoobi, Crowley had to draw on all of his experience and strength to get him over the line from Championship, who tried to make all under the reigning British champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa.
It was Janoobi’s first win in three starts at the Carnival meeting, and De Kock said the longer 1,600-metre trip suited him more than his previous two runs over 1,200m and 1,400m.
“He’s a brave horse and expected him to come from those two runs,” said the Silvano colt’s South African trainer.
“His win was a wonderful advertisement for South African horses with the sales coming up shortly.
“He went really well in his previous start [second to Godolphin’s Jungle Cat in the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort] and we saw a big change on him in the past two weeks.
Buick was in the saddle for the Charlie Appleby-trained Folkswood led a one-two finish for Godolphin in the Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes.
Buick had to overcome heavy traffic on the home straight to pip Saeed bin Suroor’s Leshlaa by a short head.
The jockey-trainer combination of Richard Mullen and Satish Seemar earned backto-back victories, winning the second and third races, with Secret Ambition and Raven’s Corner respectively.
Raven’s Corner won his first DWC Carnival prize in three starts after being successful in two of his three local starts last season.
Mullen made all on the gelded son of Raven’s Pass to come home unchallenged over the 1,400m trip from Kim Bear and Silver Look by seven lengths and four-and-threequarter lengths, respectively.