Newbury, England: Since the relaunch of the Dubai International Races at Newbury in 2003, top English trainer Gillian Duffield has dominated her rivals by winning more races at Britain’s showpiece Purebred Arabian race meeting.
However, this year the scenario appears to be different.
Newmarket-based Duffield is under pressure to maintain her supremacy as she bids to provide her owner and race day patron Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, with more success at the prestigious meeting.
The veteran Eve Lodge handler saddles ten runners at Sunday’s event, including Al Hibaab in the feature race of the day, the £50,000 (Dh308,000) Group 1 Shadwell Stud Dubai International Stakes, an event that has become a favourite of hers over the years.
But Al Hibaab, who will have the skilled services of seven-time UAE champion jockey Ted Durcan on board, must overcome defending champion Djet Taouy, who looks an imposing proposition. Owned by the Royal Cavalry of Oman, the French-bred Arabian beat Nashmi in last year’s race but appears to have progressed since then by adding more Group 1 successes to his armoury
Trained by Jean-Francois Bernard, Djet Taouy will be ridden by French Arabian specialist David Michaux, who was on board when winning the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup at this track last week.
Winner of the President of the UAE Cup in July, Djet Taouy is being aimed at the €700,000 (Dh3.4 million) Qatar Arabian World Cup at Longchamp, France, in October.
Other contenders in Sunday’s feature include another Royal Cavalry of Oman contender in Nerbah and the Julian Smart-trained Al Anga.
The £25,000 Shadwell Arabian Stallions Hatta International Stakes (Group 1) looks to be the strongest race on the card. Dutch trainer Karin van den Bos won the Qatar Total Arabian Trophy des Juments at Longchamp last year with Samima and she looks to have another good chance in this event over 2,000 metres.
French handler Alban De Mieulle runs two exciting but unexposed four-year-olds in Al Ramtha and Raghed, while the all-powerful Al Shaqab Racing team are represented by Farh, who is trained by Jean Francois Bernard.
The Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO) expressed its delight at the quality of entries for this year’s meeting, with past winners Aljasaaher, trained by Gillian Duffield, and the Julian Smart-trained Aden making much-anticipated reappearances in the event.
ARO Racing Manager Amanda Smith said: “I am extremely pleased with the quality of entries for Dubai International Arabian Raceday. Once again, the international Arabian horse racing community has recognised this fixture as a very important date in their calendar.
“I am especially pleased to see horses entered from as far afield as Morocco. We look forward to welcoming their representatives to Newbury.
“Djet Taouy seems to love this racecourse so he will be one to respect. We are hugely grateful to the ongoing patronage of HH Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for this event and we are looking forward to another fantastic race day.”
