Special moment as trainer Al Alawi saddles 100th win
dubai — Trainer Helal Al Alawi said that it was a very special moment for himself and The National Stables after saddling his 100th win at the Al Ain Racecourse, late on Friday night.
The Emirati handler saw Richard Mullen pilot Da’Areen to victory in the Al Markhaniya Handicap, the highlight of the seven-race card in the third race meeting in the Garden City.
And it was a one-two with Al Alawi’s Nizora coming in second, 0.75 lengths behind Da’Areen, in the contest run over 10 furlongs. The win, Al Alawi’s seventh of the season, was made all the more sweeter as Da’Areen is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
“We are a small yard but an ambitious one. Obviously any landmark is special but achieving this one in Al Ain with a horse owned by Sheikh Mansour is ideal,” said Al Alawi. “This horse ran very well when third on his seasonal debut at Sharjah and we were very hopeful today (Friday). The jockey has given him a great ride and this is a very special moment for the whole team at The National Stables,” added the Emirati, who had a career-best 32 winners last season.
For long, The National Stables had been known to focus on just the Purebred Arabians but over the past two seasons, the racing operation has also dipped their feet into Thoroughbreds.
“We used to be considered a Purebred Arabian operation but have expanded a lot with Thoroughbreds over the last two seasons, with plenty of success and it is a very exciting time to be competitive on both fronts,” he said.
It was a pretty straightforward race for Mullen and his mount Da’Areen with the seven-year-old from Bibi De Carrere, notching a fifth win in 36 starts, as well as the second on dirt, having also won at Al Ain over 1600m in January, when ridden by Xavier Ziani.
Meanwhile, the Zakhir Handicap, the only race for Thoroughbreds on the night, was a thrilling affair with the huge field of 15 runners in with a chance with 200 metres left to play out.
But the Musabbeh Al Mheiritrained Eqleem had enough left in the tank to win by a head over Archaic, also saddled by Al Mheiri.
“I was actually pretty confident we had won. He actually might have done so more easily but, approaching the line, he tried to veer towards the parade ring so lost a bit of impetus but I thought we had held on. To be honest he has surprised me because I thought 1000m would be plenty sharp enough for him but this was the only viable option for him at the moment and he will be better over 1200m looking ahead,” said jockey Ben Curtis. ERA