Dubai: Little did Dhruba Selvaratnam know that a simple, seemingly innocuous shopping trip to America would result in him scoring the biggest win of his four-decade long career.
Last summer Selvaratnam set off to America on what he describes as an ‘experiment’, the plan being to buy a couple of ‘dirt’ horses to campaign during the Carnival.
He returned to Dubai with three yearlings and one of them, Market Rally, would win him the $250,000 (Dh918,000) UAE 2000 Guineas (G1) on Thursday and spark dreams of an even bigger success, the $2,000,000 UAE Derby (G2) on March 26.
The yearling that he purchased in a private deal at Monmouth Park for owner Shaikh Ahmad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police and Public Security, demolished his six rivals to win the second Classic of the UAE racing season by an impressive margin of six lengths.
“Shaikh Ahmad suggested that as most of our horses are European bred, we should experiment by buying some dirt horses now that Meydan has a new dirt track,” revealed Selvaratnam, a four-time champion trainer in the UAE. “So I scouted around in America where I bought three horses with dirt pedigrees – Market Rally, Bluff and Top Clearance.
“They’ve all run well over here but Market Rally has really exceeded our expectations in only his second run at Meydan. Shaikh Ahmad is absolutely delighted as he beat some big names in the race.
“As he’s a light-framed horse the plan is to go straight to the UAE Derby. He is highly strung but has proved his liking for the surface, so we just need to keep him fit and happy between now and March 26.”
Selvaratnam, who was born in Sri Lanka, but has trained in Pakistan and Ireland to further his career, described winning the UAE 2000 Guineas as the highlight of his career.
“I won the Pakistan 2000 Guineas, Derby and Oaks with a filly named Fantastic back in 1972, but this is extra special given the context of the Carnival and the quality of racing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong raider Rich Tapestry hit the ground running when he won a competitive renewal of the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint, one of the highlights on the Gulf News-sponsored card.
Despite having only landed in Dubai earlier this week, the 2014 Group 3 Mahab Al Shimaal winner showed no signs of being travel-weary when recording an all-the-way victory under vetern jockey Gerald Mossé, who in 2010 became the first French jockey to win the Melbourne Cup on the US bred horse Americain.
Godolphin rider James Doyle had a narrow escape when his mount, Marking, stumbled after clipping the heels of runner-up Muarrab (Paul Hanagan) throwing his rider to the ground.
Reynaldothewizard, winner of this race last year, failed to match the pace of the first two and had to settle for third in a fast-run race. Rich Tapestry timed 01:10.88s for the 1200m, just outside Secret Circle’s course and distance record of 01:10.64s, record in 2015.
Godolphin supplied first and second in the Meydan Classic Trial, with William Buick riding Comicas and Frederik Tylicki on Pure Diamond while Liquid Mercury, trained by Mike de Kock, landed the Gulf News Sport handicap.
De Kock said of the latter: “He is a nice horse and one we think is Group class. We will have to have a long hard think about where he goes next as we are probably out of handicap options with him now.”
The second turf handicap, the night’s finale, went to the Shaikh Juma Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum-owned Musaddas, who was ridden by James Doyle for trainer Saeed Bin Surour.
