Abu Dhabi: Jockey Silvestre de Sousa showed tremendous grit despite losing a stirrup to ride UAE debutant Raaziq to an impressive win in the HH President Cup Prep race for Purebred Arabians here on Sunday.
Apart from the stirrup, De Souza also had to tackle the traffic as there were some low-rated horses in the line-up, who gave most of the title contenders a torrid time.
De Sousa was awkwardly placed coming into the final stretch and without a stirrup for support on his right foot. However, Raaziq powered his way past Skoop under Tadhg O’Shea to clinch victory by three-quarters of a length. Finishing third, one-and-three-quarter lengths back, was Royston Ffrench on Takaamul.
“My horse was going well and in the lead when I lost an iron,” De Sousa said. “I didn’t want to lose that momentum the horse was travelling with and just kept riding him as best I could. And the horse did well to take me first over the line.”
As much as the race itself, a big topic of discussion after the feature event at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club was the field, with most trainers feeling that horses with poor ratings were playing the role of spoilers.
“There were a lot of low-rated horses in this field and they are a real hindrance because they get tired in front and create traffic problems,” said winning trainer Majid Al Jahouri. “That was creating a lot of problems for us and for potentially good horses.
“Still he [Raaziq] showed his potential with his first run and we are very pleased the way he did it.”
Abu Dhabi’s Racing Manager Patrick Buckley said: “I agree that some of these horses didn’t deserve to be in there, but nothing can be done as this is a prep race. The owners can field whichever horse they want.”
Bearing the brunt of the slow horses in front was Versac PY, ridden by Dane O’Neill, but trainer Erwan Charpy was still pretty pleased with the showing.
“His style of running is best suited on the track at Meydan, where it has a longer straight to the finish,” said the Frenchman. “He was travelling well tonight and was still going well towards the end even though he had to come very, very wide with his challenge.
“It has been difficult for him to handle the shorter home straight in Abu Dhabi, particularly in bigger fields like tonight’s 15 runners. But we had to give him a run. He is a horse that needs a little bit of time to get ready and this will bring him a bit forward.”
Jockey O’Neill came good in the 1,400m HH The President Cup Prep race for Thoroughbreds on Nawwaar, trained by Ali Rashid Al Raihe. Nawwaar, the 1,600m National Day Cup winner at Abu Dhabi earlier this month, led from start to finish.
“It was a good to win after a frustrating night,” said O’Neill. “He loves those positive tactics and I certainly was not going to disappoint him. He has skipped over the ground and really enjoyed himself.
“He stays 1,600m well so I was happy to be positive over this shorter distance, but I did not expect to win that well. HH The President Cup in three weeks is the obvious next step.”
Also impressive on the night was O’Shea with a double. He won the Al Dinari Handicap on Sheikh Down and later rode Najem S’Heel to triumph in the Wathba Stud Farm Cup.
