Watson off the mark with fours winners at Meydan
The UAE champion trainer Doug Watson got the racing season off in style, saddling four winners at the Meydan Racecurse’s opening meeting on Thursday.
The Red Stables trainer saddled winners for three different owners under two different jockeys to move up the trainer’s leaderboard after drawing a blank at Jebel Ali Racecourse last week.
George Buckell made all he running to steer Syncopation to a two-length victory over Ticket Holder in the second race in the silks of Mohammed Khalifa Al Basti.
Pat Dobbs, the stable jockey, rode Big Brown Bear to a convincing five-length win for the Kildare Stud and completed the double 35 minutes later atop Stunned for Al Basti’s second winner on the night.
Big Brown Bear was particularly impressive. Dobbs made smooth progress to lead 300 metres from home and held on to win from the Helal Al Alawi-trained Solar Shower.
Dobbs replicated his success with Stunned to win by four and-a-half lengths from Speedy Move and then completed the treble, leading from start to finish on Pillar Of Society for the EERC Syndicate in the second last race. Ahmad bin Harmash and his stable jockey Connor Beasley registered two victories at the Dubai track.
The trainer-jockey partnership
The Red Stables trainer saddled winners for three different owners under two different jockeys to move up the leaderboard
took the opening race with Walking Thunder and the fifth race, the most valuable handicap of the seven-race card, with New Trails, both horses making their local debuts.
“Walking Thunder was making his racecourse debut and I thought he was very impressive,” said the Emirati trainer.
“New Trails is a Godolphin horse and has one from three starts in France before arriving in our stables. We quietly fancied his chances and he won very well in a strong field.
“We haven’t decided where they go next but we’ll see how they have both come out of their races and decide.”
Beasley settled New Trail behind the top-weight Montsarrat, ridden by Royston Ffrench, for most of the 2,000m trip before stepping on the gas down the home stretch and win by two lengths from Watson’s pair Street Of Dreams and Dehbashi.