HH Sheikha Fatima Apprentice race in Copenhagen
3 September 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark ~ Ireland’s Apprentice jockey Eoin Walsh scored a narrow win on the Dutch-trained Akoya in the Danish leg of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship series race on Sunday, 1 September 2018.
Akoya edged out Al Mounteze Monlau under Polish jockey Karolina Dynarowska with just a neck separating the two while in third place was Cleopathre under Alan Wallace.
After a double in the Festival’s races in Ostend, Belgium owner Landgoed Waterland and trainer Karin van den Bos were back with another win as Akoya under Walsh won a close race at Denmark’s Klampenborg racecourse and Sunday’s card which also marked the Ladies Day and the featured Oaks for Thoroughbreds.
Cleopathre under Norwegian-licensed Wallace in the saddle was the first to show in a bunch of horses willing to go and finding their positions down most of the backstretch in the 1800-metre contest. Al Mounteze Monlau joined her in the bend and the pair were ahead by some four lengths into the straight.
By the 200 metre marker they were joined by Akoya and another battle commenced. The filly couldn’t quite take part when the two colts engaged in a lengthening and shortening neck battle to the line. Having hit the front Akoya would not be denied, however, and saw to it that it was his connections that got to enter the winner’s enclosure.
“He idled in front, but I was never worried,” said Eoin Walsh, who now joins other winners of the series for a shot at the final of the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race in Abu Dhabi in November.
Dutch trainer Karin van den Bos – a multi-race winner in the HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival said, “He’s a good horse.”
Bred by his trainer, Akoya had won twice as a juvenile and did so again this season before he was fifth in the French Derby before going to Italy for a solid second before Sunday’s win under Walsh.
Results:
1800 m turf, right-handed.
1) Akoya (Muqatil al Khalediah) Eoin Walsh, Ireland (60 kg) Karin v.d. Bos
2) Al Mounteze Monlau /Karolina Dynarowska, Poland (60,5) Camilla Nilsson
3) Cleopathre /Alan Wallace, Norway (56,5) Charlotte Goss
4) Jaldi Karo /Eracles Eracleous, Cyprus (60,5) Maria Hagman
5) Le Jason /Jessica Clooney, UK (58,5) Gerard Zoetelief
6) Ayman /Liam Doran, Denmark (58) Maria Hagman
7) La Vande /Riccardo Iacopini, Italy (56,5) Gerard Zoetelief
8) Suhaim /Alejandra Gutierrez Baeza, Spain (60,5) Charlotte Goss
Athlete del Sol (Kerstin Elsaesser, Germany) and Toutatix (Mattyas Varga, Hungary) withdrawn.
Winning time: 2.03,0
Distances: neck – 2,5 – 3,5 – neck – 12,5 – 13
The UAE’s Ambassador to Denmark, HE Fatima Khamis Al Mazrouei, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club Director General Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi along with other VIP guests and representatives of Denmark’s Arabian racing attended the prize distribution ceremony and gave away the trophies.