Dubai: Irish-bred and Italian-trained Konkan won the €30,800 (Dh155,597) Premio Jebel Ali Racecourse handicap as the UAE celebrated its 10th year of partnership with Rome’s Capannelle.
Italian Francesco Dettori rode a well-judged race to steer Konkan home ahead of Kitten’s Lady, ridden by Gabriele Bietolini, while Piccola Sissi, the mount of Gianpasquale Fois, finished third. A field of 15 runners competed in the 1400m event for fillies aged three years and over.
It was one of the highlights of ‘Dubai Day’, an event that has been held annually for the last ten years at the historic Capannelle racecourse in a bid to promote the racing industries of both the UAE and Italy.
‘Dubai Day’ also featured several other races held in conjuction with the UAE including the €41,800 Listed Premio Taolina Mem P Galli UAE Stakes over 1600m and the €41,800 Listed Premio Emirates Airline over 1400m.
Irish-bred Lucky Serena was notching the first win of her career when successful in the UAE Stakes, which carried a purse of €19,386 while Marvi Thunders made it a clean sweep for the Irish breeding industry when taking the Premio Emirates Airline Stakes.
Other races on the card included the €22,000 Misil Al Maktoum Stakes, the €30,800 Mario Perretti Mujajhd Stakes, the €25,000 HH Shaikh Hamdan Al Maktoum Stakes, the €30,800 Shadwell-NAIP Stakes and the €25,000 Madjani Shadwell Arabian Stakes.
The races were held as part of the Spring calendar at Capannelle racecourse, on which the Group 1 Premio Presidente della Republica was held.
The 2,000m contest, which was worth €96,931, produced a photo-finish with less than a length separating eight horses at the finish.
Refuse To Bobbin prevailed by a short head from Biz The Nurse, while Occhio Della Menta was a neck back in third.
The meeting was attended by several dignitaties and officials led by Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador, and Mirza Al Sayegh, Director of the office of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, who was supporting the ‘Dubai Day’ through his Shadwell breeding operation. Also present were Shareef Al Halawani, manager of Jebel Ali Racecourse, and Jebel Ali trainer Dhruba Selvaratnam.
Al Sayegh thanked all those in attendance: “We are honoured to be here for the 10th year. We are happy to be at Capannelle and reiterate our collaboration with Rome.
“The relationship between Shadwell and Capannelle and the United Arab Emirates will improve forever. We are always very happy to see our most important event being such a great success.
“We also held special race days in England and Germany in August, and in December in Australia. We are also hoping to host one or two race days in South America in January.”
