Seemar and Mullen make it 3 winners in Abu Dhabi
dubai — Satish Seemar and Richard Mullen made it three winners over the weekend after Galesburg won the feature race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night.
Seemar, the Dubai trainer and UAE champion jockey Mullen partnered to guide Galesburg to victory in the Jebel Dhanah Handicap, the only Thoroughbred race in the seven-race card at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club. Seemar and Mullen had eked out a double in Saturday’s race meeting at Meydan Racecourse with Yulong Warrior winning the ADSB Trophy and Storyboard landing the Healthpoint Health & Wellbeing Destination Cup.
Galesburg, the five-year-old from the famous Shamardal, tracked the leaders and then made the charge with 500 metres left in the 1600-metre contest. He led the final 100 metres and won comfortably, 2.25 lengths ahead of Mutawakked, trained by Maria Ritchie and the mount of Jim Crowley. It was Galesburg’s fourth victory in 22 starts after consecutive seconds at Jebel Ali on his previous two runs.
Ritchie’s Sahaafy, the ride of Jesus Rosales, finished third.
Earlier, the race meeting had got going with Af Sanad winning the Al Khazna Handicap. Trained by Khalifa Al Neyadi and ridden by Bernardo Pinheiro, won by three lengths over Af Asheham, in the contest run over seven furlongs. It was a hattrick of victories for Af Sanad and his fourth in seven starts and he showed his versatility with those four wins spread across dirt as well as turf. Jean de Roualle’s Qader, the ride of Mullen, was third.
Meanwhile, Elyaah marked his Abu Dhabi debut with a maiden victory in the Al Mafraq (Div I). The four-year-old colt from Munjiz, trained by Eric Lemartinel and the mount of Tadhg O’Shea, left the field in his wake as he won the eightfurlong contest by a whopping six lengths. It was only his third start and Elyaah holds a lot of promise.
Sihrenna, trained by Helal Al Alawi and ridden by Patrick Cosgrave, clearly had to settle for second, while apprentice jockey Robert Smithers guided Mujahad Qardabiyah to third, half a length behind Sihrenna. Goshawke also got his maiden win on his fourth start, with the four-year-old landing the Al Mafraq (Div 2). Trained by Abdallah Al Hammadi and ridden by Fernando Jara, Goshawke won by half a length over Af Al Bairaq.
Al Hammadi and Jara paired up again to make it back-to-back race wins after Bushrah Al Reef landed the Al Jazira Handicap.
Apprentice jockey Saif Al Balushi upstaged some illustrious names to clinch the Wathba Stallions Cup For Private Owners Only, onboard Madjanthis. Es Fatek, the mount of Harry Bentley, was second, 1.25 lengths behind.
Al Hammadi made it three winners on the night with Al Tiryaq winning the Wrapping Up Handicap, with Sam Hitchcott on board.
The next race meeting is at the Meydan Racecourse, the fifth meeting of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, on Thursday night.
james@khaleejtimes.com