Dubai: French Apprentice lady jockey Isis Magnin, on the Awn Al Aidarous-owned Burj Al Arab, won the Prix Fleur d’ Avril His Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race in Tarbes on Sunday to become the eighth jockey to qualify for the championship finale on November 8 in Abu Dhabi.
Magnin, on the four-year-old Burj Al Arab, had finished second by a neck to Paxan - ridden by Niven Marday from Mauritius but she lodged an objection on the grounds of interference by the latter on the home straight.
After an inquiry by the Stewards, Magnin’s appeal was upheld and Burj Al Arab was promoted to the winner’s position and Paxan under the Mauritian was relegated to second place. Sixteen-year-old Moroccan Omar Lakjal on Cristal De Ghazal and Georgia Cox on Forgehill Cartier finished third and fourth respectively. The winning time for the 1500-metre turf contest was 1:29.70.
Though Magnin only qualifies for the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship final race in Abu Dhabi on November 8, Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA) and Chairperson of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) invited Niven Marday to be part of the final line-up.
“We will have nine winners from the nine rounds of the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship held all over the globe. We will fill the remaining three slots and one of them will go to Marday who at a young age has revealed immense skills. It was unfortunate he lost out today but that is all a part of sport,” she said.
After winning the eight-horse Euro 20,000 (Dh83,405) race, Frenchwoman Magnin said: “I lost some precious moments when my horse was obstructed just as we had turned for home. I am happy that my appeal was upheld and now I am so delighted to be going to Abu Dhabi for the final.”
Marday thanked the Festival and said he is very happy to represent Mauritius at one of the most famous racing venues in the world.
Sawaya said: “Under instructions from Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival will be adding two more races to the four races on November 8 in Abu Dhabi.
“The two races will be in honour of the UAE troops who sacrificed their lives in Yemen, one the UAE Martyrs Trophy for Thoroughbreds for Dh80,000 and the other UAE Martyrs Cup for Purebred Arabians for Dh90.000,” she said.
