Doyle gains from De Vries’ error of judgement
Bentley lands a double with two different winners
No matter how good you are, there are days when even the best can bungle and jockey Adrie de Vries learnt it the hard way on Sunday.
Given an option to choose his horse for the evening, he let go his prized Nymphea Du Paon to jockey James Doyle, who went on to clinch the Arabian Triple Crown Round.
De Vries had ridden Nymphea Du Paon to an authoritative win on her Emirates debut two weeks ago in the Listed Abu Dhabi Championship.
However, on Sunday, De Vries didn’t keep his faith on Nymphea Du Paon and opted to ride the winner’s stable companion Molahen El Alham, whom he rode to a second place in the Abu Dhabi Colts Classic earlier.
Doyle comfortably rode Nymphea Du Paon to victory by a neck over second- placed AF Al Hazer under Royston Ffrench. Molahen El Alham was third a further four- and- threequarter lengths behind.
Trainer Ernst Oertel was also stunned with De Vries’ decision and revealed that he had warned him against that move.
“Adrie wanted to ride the colt and I told him he was mad. The jockey’s rule is never to get off a winner and he did. She’s a champion and to get off her was a mistake,” said the Oertel.
De Vries was also quick to put his hands up and said that he “blundered”.
“Molahen was better in the workout. Had I not ridden both of them during workout, I would have chosen to ride Nymphea. It was a big mistake,” accepted De Vries.
In the Al Khaznah race for thoroughbreds, jockey Richard Mullen rode Inthar to victory by three quarters of a length over Amaan, ridden by Noel Garbutt.
The highlight of the evening was also a grand double for jockey Harry Bentley with two trainers. Bentley won the second race Al Mafraq by leading Duzar, trained by Majid Al Jahouri, to victory.
Buoyed by the success, Bentley later went on to win the fifth race, the Wathba Stud Farm Cup on Safir Bainuna. Three fourth of a length behind was Girl Powerrr and AF Asefah.
The first race of the evening saw Live Rich under Xavier Ziani finally coming good in his fourth attempt.