Top horses in fray in Toulouse contest
toulouse — HH Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival will mark its final race in the Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup 2016 series at the Toulouse Hippodrome in France on Thursday.
Starting as a strong favourite to win the Euros 45,000 Group 2 event will be Diva Du Paon, a three-year-old Munjiz filly to be ridden by big race jockey Christophe Soumillon. Diva Du Paon and Soumillon had finished third to Samaa at Saint Cloud on September 30 in a Euros 100,000 Group 1 race and in Thursday’s race take on six other rivals who all finished behind her in that last contest.
Muneera, fourth behind Diva Du Paon in St. Cloud along with Ainhoa Winwin and the Faisal Seddiq Al Mutawa-owned Abudhabi Princess will be the others worth following in this race.
In the Colts contest of the French Arabian Breeder’s Challenge, another Group 2 race, Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan-owned Dahham and Rmmas are in the fray. Zikreet under Julien Auge should be the one to beat in this race after the 3-year-old son of Dahess finished a smart second to Motrag in a Group 1 race in St Cloud on September 30. Dahham under Alexander Guillemin was 6th in that race but will be looking to overturn that result as he has two wins prior to that in Deauville (August 13) and Chantilly (June 22). Rmmas under Ioritz Mendzibal will be looking to better his second-place finish to Zikreet on September 4 in Dax. Apart from these three the other main challengers in this Group 3 race are Barnamaj, owned by Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Minister of Finance and Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Al Mounteze Monlau.
Shaikh Mansour’s Mirna and Shaikh Hamdan’s Jamaayil carry UAE hopes in the French Arabian Breeder’s Challenge Sprint over 1400 metres.A classy field in the French Arabian Breeder’s Challenge Classic over 2200 metres includes Shaikh Hamdan’s Aghsaan, Europe’s Triple Crown winner Ziyadd and Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship series’ Tarbes leg winner Thabit- both owned by Shaikh Mansour.