February 7, 2014, Jebel Ali, UAE ~ Friday afternoon Jockey Harry Bentley continued his luck after having had two winners in Qatar on Thursday when driving Safir Bainuna (ELIOS DE CARRERE (FR) x Instigate by ZT Ali Baba (US) to victory in the only Purebred Arabian contest, the opening 1600m conditions race at Jebel Ali.

Winning for the first time on dirt, Safir Bainuna is owned and trained by Ahmed Al Mehairbi and this was the horse’s third win of the season.

“I think this horse is improving all the time and he ran on well to lead where it mattered having seemed in trouble at one stage when I thought he was getting tired,” said Bentley who has been in the saddle for each of the horse’s victories this term. “It is great to win three on him for such a small yard.”

The 1200m sprint was won impressively by Sholaan, trained on the track by Dhruba Selvaratnam. Owned by race course patron, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sholaan had been due a victory after performing consistently well in defeat in his previous six UAE starts. On this occasion Sholaan was always going well under James Doyle and, once they hit the front 200m out, the race was over.

Doyle said: “The horse really deserves that because he has run some great races here in the UAE without enjoying much luck. I was happy to get a lead here as we knew a few of these rivals are perhaps better over 1400m.

“We knew they would be staying on but my fellow has a great cruising speed and showed a nice turn of foot to win well.”

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