Burn wins richest race for Purebred Arabian horses
abu dhabi — It was like a bolt from the blue when little-known RB Burn, under French jockey Gerald Avranche, stunned a star-studded field to win the Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s €1.2 million Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup Crown Jewel-IPIC (Group 1) — world’s richest race for Purebred Arabian horses — at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club race course on Sunday.
It was a tremendous win for the Eric Lemartinel-trained RB Burn, a winner of just two races prior to Sunday’s historic triumph and that too against a 16-strong field that comprised eight Group 1 winners, the Dubai Kahayla Classic winner, two-time Shaikh Zayed Cup US Triple Crown winner and in
It was a perfect race, we had a good draw and he travelled very well
Avranche, jockey
Al Mourtajez — the highest-rated Purebred Arabian currently racing and a winner of 12 of his last 16 races including four Group 1 wins coming into the big race!
Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, the four-year-old grey son of Majd Al Arab finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Mabrooka followed by Sylvine Al Maury, Sahabba, the runnerup last year, and AF Mathmoon, the Dubai Kahayla Classic winner while hot favourite Al Mourtajez could only finish sixth. It was also the biggest win for French jockey Avranche who said, “It was a perfect race, we had a good draw and he travelled very well. I had all the favourites in front and we hit the lead a bit early. RB Burn was a bit cheeky then but soon settled down and did very well.”
Lemartinel said he felt 1600 to 1800 metres was the right distance for RB Burn and also decided to put blinkers on and all that seemed to have paid off. RB Burn after getting off to a winning start in Houston, soon moved to France for new owner Sheikh Sultan and has been followed by Lemartinel.“He had a lot of speed,” the trainer said. “He was pulling hard over long distance races and didn’t have much luck in some of the races in France.