Blitters Plonja back to her winning ways

Abu Dhabi: Trainer Diana Dorenburg, who could not win Friday's Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup (Group 2) with Sartejano in Toulouse, struck gold with Blitters Plonja in the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival's Wathba Stud Farm Cup I race in Duindigt, The Netherlands on Sunday.

Owned by F.F. Dyk-Krantz, the seven-year-old mare got back to a winning start after a gap of two years. Ridden superbly by Raymond Chang, Blitters Plonja finished ahead of Parma T ridden by Martin Wallow with third place going to Shrek under Toon van den Troost.

The race was run on turf over a distance of 1,800 metres with eight horses, including two from Germany, taking part.

The winning trainer Dorenburg had won a Wathba Stud Farm Cup race last year with Satejano which had gone on to win two Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan races later to win the Festival's Euro bonus of 30,000 euros.

"It was a good start to the Wathba Stud Farm Cup series which has resulted in a huge surge of interest in Purebred Arabian racing in The Netherlands," said Wieger Joost de Ruiter, chairman of the Dutch Arabian Racing Committee.

Abdullah Al Qubaisi, of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, said, "We are delighted with the success that we have achieved through the Wathba Stud Farm Cup race series in The Netherlands and in other parts of the world."