Dubai Hugo Palmer’s decision to once again cross the English Channel and take on some of France’s most promising juveniles has paid dividends following Afandem’s impressive victory in the Group 2 €80,000 Prix d’Arenberg at Chantilly on Thursday.
A two-year-old son of 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Vale Of York, the James Doyle-piloted Afandem scored by a length and a quarter from Michael Hofer’s Hargeisa (Christophe Soumillon) with Barroche (Gerald Mosse), another British raider representing Clive Cox, a half length back in third.
Owned by champion camel trainer Hamad Rashed Bin Ghedayer, the winner races under the banner of Rabbah Bloodstock Limited, a company that oversees the racing and breeding interests of the friends of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Palmer, who trains out of the Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket, England, took to twitter to express his delight at Afandem’s French success.
‘Thrilled to see Afandem win our 10th stakes race of the season. Tough horse. Great team. Thank you all’, the big-race winning handler tweeted on @hugopalmeracing following up an earlier tweet ‘Afandem adds a Group 3 to his Listed win and wins a €27,500 bonus for doing the double. Will consider the Cornwallis next @NewmarketRace.’
The Cornwallis Stakes is a Group 3 run over 1,000 metres as part of the ‘Future Champions Day’ fixture in mid-October.
Palmer has 11,800 followers on the powerful public platform that connects people with similar interests to each other and is a big supporter of Rabbah Blookstock-owned horses.
France has also become a happy hunting ground for the Guineas and St. James’s Palace Stakes-winning handler, who in July sent out Afandem to win the Listed Prix Des Reves D’Or at Vichy, a spa and resort town in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
Palmer’s most high-profile wins this season came with Galileo Gold won the colt’s Classic at Newmarket and followed it up with another big win in the St. James at Royal Ascot.
The last British-trained horse to win the Prix d’Arenberg was Cay Verde who was trained by Mick Channon, the former England footballer turned racehorse trainer
Another notable winner of the juvenile contest was Key Of Luck, who in 1993 won the inaugural running of the Dubai Turf (then Dubai Duty Free) in 1996 at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai.
Meanwhile, back in England the John Gosden-trained Elraazy announced himself to be a nice horse for the future when winning a competitive maiden event at Haydock Park’s Autumn meeting.
A son of Dubawi, Elraazy was ridden by Paul Hanagan for leading owner Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.
