Mahbooba edges Sniper for title
abu dhabi — The second leg of the 2200m Arabian Triple Crown Gr-3 was impressively won by Mahbooba in an exciting finish at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club on Sunday.
Ridden by Richard Mullen in the silks of The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the four-year-old raced keenly against the fences and got up to touch the wire by a nose ahead of the winner of the first leg of the championship Sniper de Monlau who hanged left in the final 100 yards of the trip.
Ironically, trainer Eric Lemartinel saddled three horses for the horse and the first two jockeys Gerald Avranche and Tadhg O’Shea went for Meydan Du Paon and Cloe Du Faust respectively leaving Mahbooba as a thrd choice for Mullen.
It was a very close finish and trainer Helal Al Alawi went crazy when he saw his horse coming up very strongly from the grandstand side which made him to believe that he has won the race.
“I was confident that Mahbooba has won, but I had to wait until the official result was announced to start celebrations,” Mullen said. “I had a nice run with her,” he added.
Salem Al Ketbi, racing manager of The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, admitted that the runner up deserves all credit. “He is a very good horse, but he lost a lot of ground after hanging left and missed say about 6-8 metres.
Regarding the next target for the filly, Al Ketbi said she is a group horse and she needs to raise her game for the remaining of the game so they can send he r to Meydan to be tried on the dirt surface next yesr.
However, it was double delight for trainer Eric Lemartinel after having landed earlier in the evening the Emirates Colts Classic, a UAE-Bred Purebred Arabians Prestige event contested over a mile, Hamza made all the running to lead from the wire to he wire hands and heels under Tadhg O’Shea.
The 2200m Abu Dhabi Championship Prep, the only Thoroughbreds contest, was convincingly won by UAE debutant Khusoosy under Paul Hanagan, in the distinguished blue colours of international leading horse breeder and owner Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance.
Ali Rashid Al Raihe who trains the winner at the Grandstand Stables in Dubai said: “We have tried to enter him for a race at Meydan, but he was not declared for the race and the open option was to send him for this race and it is good to see him winning on debut.”
The opening race, a 1600m Purebred Arabians Maiden went for top weight Marbouh who held on very strongly to prevail by a short-head when attacked by Cristal des Vialettes on the line.
The Wathba Std Farm Cup For Private Owners Only was a con- solation for trainer Helal Al Alawi who has saddled the winner and second runner up. Al Shabab got up very strongly under Royston Ffrench to pip the mount of Radhg O’Shea AF Maqayes close home while Huyam came with a later run in the hands of Richard Mullen to take third.
Top English jockey Richard Mullen completed a double bringing Sattar Al Reef from last to first in the 2200m Purebred Arabians Handicap, the final race on the card.