Sunday November 17, 2013, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club ~ One constant so far this season has been Champion Trainer Ernst Oertel claiming at least one winner at every meeting he has saddled runners and he maintained that record at Abu Dhabi this evening with a double ridden by Champion Jockey, Tadhg O’Shea.
Pride of place undoubtedly went to Shayel Aldabi (Bibi De Carrere (FR) -x ANSHOUDAT FARAH (AE) by Chaikh), winner of the 1600m National Day Cup prep for the Purebred Arabians. She broke well enough but O’Shea was clearly determined to settle her in rear and let the race unfold behind a reasonable pace set by Adrian Nicholls on stable companion, Munzade. Turning for home, O’Shea eased his mount closer and she was able to dart through a gap on the rail to lead inside the final 200m and win going away.
O’Shea said: “That is a big effort from a young filly against the more experienced colts. She has a touch of class and the yard’s horses are in great form.”
A delighted Oertel added: “She was Champion filly last season so we needed to test her up in class and she has responded in the best possible way. We have made a great start and hopefully we can continue.”
At the finish second was Musharab by 2.50 lengths under Harry Bentley, and third in Munzade.
In the opening 1600m Gail Rich (TH Richie (US) x Allez France (US) by BENGALI D’ALBRET) shed his maiden tag on the third attempt, besting the TH Richie colt, Live Rich, by 7 lengths. The five-year old is trained by Ernst Oertel for HH Sh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The pair basically led all the way and O’Shea said: “I was keen to be positive and get to the front and the tactics worked. I was pretty much in control most of the way and it has been a couple of good days after my Sharjah treble yesterday.”
O’Shea then completed the second day’s winning treble with the Watbha Stud Farm Cup for private owners, Sam Houston Park aboard debutant, AF Rahia (Martin Al Maury (FR) x Deema (SA) by OA) in the 1400m maiden, completing a double for trainer, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami and owner, Khaldid Khalifa Al Nabooda.
O’Shea said: “That has been another great evening and this filly was impressive – she could be a star of the future.”
In the 1400m Maiden, it was Af Al Hazer (AF AL BURAQ (AE) x KEROUANE by Tidjani ) under Royston Ffrench. The newcomer was slowly away and appeared clueless in the early stages but, under Ffrench’s encouragement, stayed on strongly in the straight to lead on the line.
French said: “He was very green early on but as the penny dropped he picked up the bit and I was able to get to the rail. That helped and he ran on well.”
Trainer Jaber Bittar has made a bright start to the season, when his Sneer Al Reef (Bibi De Carrere (FR) x ASHAAYA D’AROCO) won under Jesus Rosales for the 1400m Handicap.
“That is my first winner of the season,” said Rosales. “Obviously it is nice to get that first one out of the way. I had to come from a fair way back but he ran on well when I asked.”
Derbaas repeated his win of 12 months ago in the only Thoroughbred race on the card, the 1600m prep for the Listed National Day Cup, which he also won in 2012. Trained by Ali Rashid Al Raihe for HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, he led 200m out under the owner’s retained jockey, Dane O’Neill but only just resisted the renewed challenge of War Monger, also owned by Sheikh Hamdan.
Full Results: [gview file=”https://horsereporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ADEC-11-17Results_9243_Corniche_18-00.pdf” save=”1″]
~ends