Dubai: First-season trainer Gopi Selvaratnam is keeping his fingers crossed that he can score a landmark first win at his home track, at Jebel Ali Racecourse, this Friday.
The racecourse will celebrate the UAE’s 46th National Day with a competitive six-race card and tons of specially put together entertainment to regale its regular fans.
Selvaratnam saddled a winner at the Sharjah Racing & Equestrian Club earlier this month, with War Sports, but is yet to get off the mark at ‘home’.
“I have two nice runners this week, Bluff and Monolight, but it looks a competitive card,” he said. “It will mean the world to me to have a first winner at a place that I have called home for so many years.
“Bluff is a good horse, but as with all sons of Tapit, he’s a bit temperamental. He’s been working well and should he run up to his ability, I believe that he has a nice chance, as this race looks an open contest.’
‘Monolight has also been training well and hopefully he’ll show some improvement this season. We’ve been patient with both horses, as you need to be, and we hope that they can show us something,” he added.
Stable jockey Oisin Murphy, who is looking for a season-first winner in the UAE, take the ride on both Selvaratnam’s runners.
“Oisin has ridden both of them at work and he likes the feel they have given him,” he said. “So let’s see what happens on Friday.”
Bluff will face eight rivals in the 1950m Rated Conditions event. Among them are the Maria Ritchie-trained Interpret and Doug Watson’s Just A Penny, both three-time winners at the track.
The race is sponsored by Shadwell Farm, a division of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance’s global breeding operation which is based in Lexington, Kentucky.
“Shaikh Hamdan remains committed to supporting racing at Jebel Ali Racecourse, just as he has done for many, many years,” Mirza Al Sayegh, Director to Shaikh Hamdan’s Office and Shadwell Chairman, told a press conference on Tuesday.
“He is pleased with the quality of racing at the venue and the large attendance of racegoers and their families. He has pledged to support the racecourse for the rest of the season in its endeavour to sustain it’s success and popularity with fans.”
Regular Jebel Ali partners Al Shafar Investment, ServeU, Ascana, Al Rammal Engineering and Commercial Bank of Dubai, will lend their name to the other five races on the card.
