Mercier Wins Morocco leg of HH Sheikha Fatimabint Mubarak World Championship race
11 April 2015, Casablanca, Morocco ~ Leading French professional lady jockey Justin Mercier steered Yakout Al Boraq home to win the 6th leg of HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) at the Casablanca-Anfa Racecourse on Friday, 10 April.
“She’s an easy-going mare,” the jubilant winner said later of the win on the dirt track. “I followed the instructions of the trainer and kept her just off the pace and we hit the front as the pack turned for home. Yakout Al Boraq did not let me down when I have asked,” Mercier said.
Korean lady jockey A-Na Lee broke nicely from stall nine onboard Romh L’Atlas taking the early lead followed by Slovakian Michala Kucharikova astride Labess Maamora as Mercier kept to the outside.
Labess Maamora chased the winner home to take second under Kucharikova while the hot favourite Ksarah, ridden by Moroccan jockey Bouchra Marmoul, came with a late run to finish third.
The riders were reduced to nine before the start after the late withdrawal of top weight Fath BS, the mount of the Omani representative Azhar Al Wardi for the 1900m race.
UAE ambassador to Morocco Alsari Saeed Al Dhahri and Ms Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Chairman of the Int’l Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA) and Chairman of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR), along with top officials of the sport from Moroccan gave away the prizes and trophies to the winners.
Ms Sawaya announced that the seventh round of the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) will be held in Toulouse alongside the first leg of the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup Triple Crown, on Friday 17 April.
European Triple Crown
“The second leg of the Triple Crown will be held in Duindigt, Holland, on 28 June and the final round will be staged at the Sluzewiec Racecourse in Warsaw, Poland on 23 August, en route to the world’s richest Arabian horse race, the €1.2m Group 1 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club in Abu Dhabi, on 8 November,” she confirmed.
The HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival is sustained by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and coordinated by Abu Dhabi Sports Council in cooperation with Emirates Racing Authority, IFAHR, Emirates Arabian Horse Society, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare with The National Archives as the official partner and Emirates airline as the official carriers and sponsored by Invest AD, Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Al Awani General Enterprises, Kabale, Al Wathba Centre, the UAE’s General Women’s Union, the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy, Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2015, Dr. Nader Saab Switzerland, Al Wathba Center, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, Eastern Mangroves Suites-Abu Dhabi by Jannah, Yas Channel, Omeir Travels and Racing Post.
~ end