Rasmeyaa poised to give Hamdan sixth Guineas success
Dermot Weld-trained filly faces tough task in strong renewal of Classic
Dubai: Four years ago Ghanaati, a relatively unexposed filly at the time, sprang a major surprise to win the English 1,000 Guineas (G1) in the colours of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.
On Sunday, Rasmeyaa, another lightly raced horse owned by Shaikh Hamdan, will bid to reprise that performance when she takes on some highly regarded rivals in the historic 200th renewal of the fillies’ Classic at Newmarket’s stiff Rowley Mile course.
The daughter of former Epsom Derby winner New Approach, who is trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld, has raced just twice in a fledgling career. The first was in September at The Curragh, where she finished third, and the second, and more significant, race was when she won her maiden by a resounding five and a half lengths at Leopardstown the following month.
It was that performance that propelled her into the Guineas picture, where she is a best-priced 14-1 chance to give Shaikh Hamdan a sixth success in the event after Salsabil (1990), Shadayid (1991), Harayir (1995), Lahan (2000) and Ghanaati (2009).
Commenting on Rasmeyaa’s chances, Shaikh Hamdan’s racing manager Angus Gold said: “She’s always been a nice filly. Mr Weld has always liked her from the word go.
“She’s always had a bit of temperament about her and was always a bit keen in her work.
“Jockey Pat Smullen and the team have done a lot of work on her just to get her to settle and she has been better recently.”
Rasmeyaa faces 14 rivals, among them favourite Hot Snap, winner of the Nell Gwyn, dual French Group race scorer What A Name and the unbeaten Just The Judge, an eye-catching winner of the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket last October.
