Hereford, UK: Delyth Thomas’s Callymay stole the thunder in the eight-race Wathba Stud Farm Cup meeting held at Hereford in the UK on Sunday.

Organised by the Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO), the meeting was held under the umbrella of the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.

Callymay made it three wins on the bounce this season to maintain owner/trainer Thomas to maintain his grip on the 2016 ARO Championship.

Simon Walker, who has won the jockey’s title no less than nine times, including last season, leads the Arabian Jockey’s Championship.

Thomas commented. “She ran a blinder today. She loves racing and she’s entered at Bath on Saturday, so she’ll probably go there next.

“I certainly never expected to be leading the Trainer’s Championship at this stage of the season. It’s very exciting.”

The feature race of the day, the Wathba Stallions Handicap Stakes over a mile and a furlong, saw Sunbulla post an impressive eight-length victory.

A daughter of the deceased stallion Monsieur Al Maury, she is a half sister to his Dubai International Stakes (Group 1) winner Al Hibaab.

Trained by Phil Collington, she formed the second leg of a double for the first season handler, who won the opening maiden with an Athbah Stud homebred, Dossar Athbah.

Collington was delighted saying: “Dossar Athbah is a lovely horse. We thought going into his first run today he could be a bit green, as he has taken his time to come to hand, but it was a nice performance to win like he did and having the second and third as well was great too. We’ll see what rating he gets on Tuesday and make a decision from there.

“Sunbulla could have run at the opening meeting at Chelmsford, but I just wasn’t happy with her and this was the next most suitable opportunity. She has clearly loved the ground, but I didn’t think she would win as well as she did.

“Dubai International Arabian Raceday (DIAR) is obviously a possible target, but we’ll see how she comes out of the race and let the Boss decide.”

Amanda Smith, ARO Racing Manager commented: “The weather was kind to us again and we had some very competitive racing today, which the crowd undoubtedly enjoyed.

“We look forward to returning here for the next HH Shaikh Mansour Festival meeting on August 7.”