Dubai: Talented young rider Oisin Murphy must be longing to land a first win in the UAE and, on paper at least, would appear to have a good chance when Jebel Ali Racecourse hosts its second meeting of the season on Friday.
Murphy, who has gone luckless in 18 rides during the first two weeks of action on the flat, has several winning chances in the six-race card, with Jebel Ali-trained Sholaan looking the most solid of the lot.
The five-year-old son of Invincible Spirit was a dual winner at the track last season and is the most appealing of the seven runners contesting the 1400 metres Al Shafar Investment Handicap.
A proven high-class sprinter who was a close tenth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in March, Sholaan is taken to provide Murphy with a first UAE winner.
“He is ready for a run,” said resident Jebel Ali maestro Dhruba Selvaratnam. “Obviously he acts on the track but he does have to give a lot of weight [6kgs] away first time out.”
The feature race of the afternoon is a 1400 metre rated conditions event sponsored by Derrinstown Stud, which has attracted seven contenders headed by Kanaf, a seven-time winner at Jebel Ali.
Trained by Musabah Al Muhairi, who was a dominant force at the track last season where he amassed 21 wins, Kanaf will be ridden by Dane O’Neill who said: “The horse goes particularly well at Jebel Ali.
“He ran over 1000m two weeks ago and will be happier back over 1400m and will have benefited from that run.
“We are expecting a good run.”
The weights are topped by the Royal Cavalry of Oman-owned Encipher who is trained by former two-time UAE champion Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
A course and distance winner when previously trained by dual Endurance World Cup winning handler Esmail Mohammad, Encipher also looks to have strong claims.
“Obviously the penalty makes life more difficult but conditions suit and he has been working well,” said Royston Ffrench, stable jockey to Al Raihe,
Murphy has another interesting ride aboard the Selvaratnam-trained Yaa Wayl, a seven-year-old who has also represented Godolphin in the UK three seasons ago.
Also a course and distance winner, where he had the beating of Kanaf last December before finishing some way behind the same rival four weeks later, Yaa Wayl is not without a chance.
The meeting kicks off with the Hh Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Uae Breeders Society Challenge Maiden Stakes for Purebred Arabians while there are two other interesting 1400m handicaps for thoroughbreds on the card.
