Majid Al Jahouri dreaming of Kahayla success
Al Wathba Stables handler has five runners in Purebred Arabian Group 1 contest
Dubai: Majid Al Jahouri is on the verge of becoming the latest Emirati to hog the limelight at a Dubai World Cup meeting.
In only his second season as a trainer, Al Jahouri — a former national level swimmer and an international level endurance rider — is strongly represented by five runners in the Dubai Kahayla Classic (Group 1) for Purebred Arabians.
A win in the opening race of the US$27.3 million (Dh99.1 million) meeting will put him in the same bracket as Emirati Dubai World Cup meeting winners Saeed Bin Surour, Mahmoud Al Zarouni, Ali Rashid Al Raihe and Ahmad Ajtebi.
The former endurance rider, who won a Bentley and US$100,000 after victories in the Giants Endurance series two seasons ago, has the full backing of Al Wathba Stables owner Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
“I am under no pressure before the Saturday Dubai World Cup meeting as Shaikh Mansour told me that to just have five runners is like a victory for the stables,” said the 37-year-old.
It will also be a huge achievement for the breeding operations of Shaikh Mansour as all five runners — Naseem, Musharab, Areem, Rakha and Rasikh — have been bred at his breeding unit based in Normandy, France.
“This is my second season as a trainer and this season, we have 14 winners with four Group 1 wins among them. The team has been working very hard and we are looking for some success on Saturday,” Al Jahouri said.
Shaikh Mansour has taken a special interest in Purebred Arabians and over the last four years, the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival has been staging Arabian races all over the world in a bid to enhance their status as a racing breed.
Al Jahouri, who won many medals as a freestyle swimmer at national and regional level competitions, took to endurance riding and equestrian sports in 1998.
“It would be great to win the Kahayla Classic on Saturday. It is an international stage and the racing world will be watching. It would be a dream result and I hope we have a good result. I am also very happy just to be there on the big day, competing against the best Arabian horses.
While the spotlight will be largely on the eight other thoroughbred races, culminating in the Dubai World Cup, the curtain raiser is like a World Cup for the Purebred Arabians. And what better finish can anyone ask for than to have another promising Emirati trainer enter the winner’s enclosure on Saturday.
