Dubai: Fresh from scoring a big-race double at last Saturday’s $30 million (Dh110 million) Dubai World Cup meeting, Emirati handler Musabah Al Muhairi is hoping to continue his winning form at Sunday’s third Chengdu Dubai International Cup race day, organised by the Meydan Group, under the Emirates Racing Authority (ERA) rules of racing.
Al Muhairi has a good record in Chengdu having won the feature race in 2015 with Special Fighter, a horse who improved with every run in the UAE before running a highly-creditable fourth to California Chrome in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
“This is the third year that we have been coming and the facilities are very good,” Al Muhairi told members of the Chinese media at the Jinma Lake Racecourse in the city of Chengdu in Sichuan.
“It is colder here than in Dubai, but the weather is fine for the horses and they are fit and well.
“Special Fighter won the big race here last year and he went on to win the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 in the Dubai World Cup Carnival and finished fourth in the Dubai World Cup last Saturday so we are very happy to be back here again.”
Some of the jockeys and trainers who took part in Saturday’s big race meeting at Meydan, which brought the curtain down on the 2015-2016 UAE racing season, were on hand to meet members of the Chinese media on Wednesday morning.
Besides Dubai Kahayla Classic and Golden Shaheen-winning trainer, Musabah Al Muhairi, French trainer Erwan Charpy and jockeys Jesus Rosales and Marc Monaghan, were also present at the meet-and-greet session.
Also present were Bhupat Seemar, assistant to Zabeel Stables trainer Satish Seemar, Claude Piccioni, assistant to Millennium Stables handler Ismael Mohammad, Noel Connolly, assistant to Godolphin Mile-winning trainer, Doug Watson along with other Dubai Racing Club personnel.
Under a thick blanket of mist, members of the press photographed the horses working on the track.
Dubai Racing Club’s Executive Director of Racing, Frank Gabriel said: “It is gratifying to see so much interest among the Chinese media in what we are doing. The first Chengdu Dubai International Cup in 2014 was a groundbreaking meeting which saw international racehorses undergoing both import and export quarantine and we are very pleased to be back here for the third consecutive year with our partners from Chengdu.”
The race meeting is organised by the Meydan Group, under the Emirates Racing Authority rules of racing (a signatory to the International Federation of Horseracing Authority), in partnership with the Chengdu Municipal Government, the Chengdu Sports Bureau, the Wenjiang District Government and China Guangsha Group.
Five races worth a combined total of RMB3.75m (Dh2.22 million; $604,536) will be contested on Saturday including the featured 2218m RMB1.5m Chengdu International Cup presented by Longines. Also on the card is the Wenjiang Meydan Classic over 1600m, The Meydan Handicap over 2418m, the Guangsha Mile and the 1400m Wenjiang Sprint. The first race goes to post at 1.20pm (9.20am UAE).
Chengdu is situated in the South West of China and is the capital of Sichuan province. It is a city of historical and cultural significance and acts as a centre for politics, culture, science, education, commerce, finance and international trade. An accessible transportation and communications hub, Chengdu also possesses the largest airport in the region. It is one of the largest cities in mainland China.
