President of the UAE Cup Entries Confirmed (UK Arabian Derby)
31 August 2016,United Kingdom ~ [cce_dropcap bgcolor=”#000000″ color=”” shape=”round” size=”3rem”]A[/cce_dropcap]The Arabian Racing Organization (ARO) hqw confirmed eleven entries for the President of the UAE Cup (UK Arabian Derby) Group 1 PA, to be run at Doncaster as part of the Ladbrokes St Leger Festival on Thursday, 8 September. The mile and a quarter race for four-year-old Purebred Arabians is sponsored by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, with an increased prize fund of £80,000.
The overseas entries include two Group 3 winners in Ibn Azadi for Thomas Fourcy and Al Shaqab, and Tayf for Alban De Mieulle and HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani. Tayf is seeking compensation for his French Derby (Gr1 PA) defeat by a nose in June, whilst only a nose behind him was Khataab, another Fourcy entry for Al Shaqab. Also closely matched on form are Djelamer and Lightning Bolt, winner and runner up in a Listed event at Duindigt in June. Djelamer, trained by de Mieulle for Khalifa Hamad Al Attiyah, has since gone on to win a stage of the President of the UAE Cup series, also at Duindigt, this month of August.
There are a number of progressive domestic challengers including Lou Raynal, Jamaayil and Difaa. Lou Raynal was third in a Group 2 sprint recently, for trainer Beverely Deutrom and owners Brian Taylor and Okbar Aashour. HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Jamaayil scored impressively in handicap company last month earning a chance to step up to this grade for rookie trainer Phil Collington. Difaa has also looked potentially smart and is trained by 2015 ARO Newcomer award winner, James Owen for Nicola Thorne. This is a welcome return for leading UK Endurance rider Thorne, whose’ Tidarbret won another of the President of the UAE Cup series races in 2012 at the Curragh.
ARO Racing Manager, Amanda Smith commented. “We are delighted to welcome back the President of the UAE Cup and are extremely grateful to the Abu Dhabi Sports Council for their generous support of our feature race for four-year-olds. The series last sponsored the UK Arabian Derby in 2013, when it was run at Newmarket as part of the July Festival meeting.”
Smith continued. “It looks likely to be a very competitive race as the overseas entries are all quite closely matched on form and it will be interesting to see how our UK horses compare. It is also very exciting to be bringing Arabian racing back to the prestigious Doncaster St Leger Festival meeting.”
Entries:
~ end supplied report