St Moritz, Switzerland: Purebred Arabian Nil Kamla capitalised on the shortened distance and conditions on the frozen lake of St Moritz to win the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) under Belgian lady jockey Anna van den Troost.
Luckless in seven starts since 2014, the five-year-old daughter of Dahess recorded her second victory in less than a week when victorious for the Swiss connections of trainer Franziska Aeschbacher and her owner and husband Urs Aeschbacher.
Last Sunday, Nil Kamla won the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup on the same snow track.
In the battle among lady jockeys for a place in the November final of the Shaikha Fatima Series in Abu Dhabi, Nil Kamla proved she is the queen of the sprint division on the snow track.
Van den Troost took her mount to the front soon after the start and the pair held on to win by three lengths from Oriental Myth, the mount of Swiss rider Astrid Wullschleger, the 2015 HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World champion.
Alibaba Del Sol performed below expectations to finish third under Swedish lady jockey Dina Danekilde.
Van den Troost, 20, was thrilled with her victory and said, “It was a challenging task as it was very important to keep the horse in the right spot in the early stages. Towards the end there is a huge scramble as it is only a 800-metre distance - and I was happy with the way Nil Kamla responded.”
Van den Troost will be making her second appearance in the Abu Dhabi finale of the Shaikha Fatima series.
“It is a dream of every lady jockey to win and qualify for the finals,” said the Belgian youngster, who had finished third on Bigg N Rich in the 2014 championship final in Abu Dhabi. “It was a great experience and I will now work towards bettering that display of mine.”
The event was held under the banner of the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.
Sulieman Al Mazrouei, UAE ambassador to Belgium, Saqr Al Raisi, UAE ambassador to Italy and Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the Shaikh Mansoor Festival presented the trophies.
