Turkey's 23-year-old Mustafa Tarhan finished second in the sixth and final race to clinch the Emirates International Apprentice Jockeys Championship at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club racecourse here last night.
The 14-strong apprentice jockeys championship, which began with two races in Dubai on Thursday and worked off two races in Jebel Ali on Friday, went to the wire here as nine of them had a chance to clinch the title before the final race.
But South Korea's Joon Chul Lee, who was last in the pack going into the final race, won on Typhoon while Tarhan rode Winner Du Causse to second place and claimed the crucial eight points.
Tarhan had earlier won a round in Jebel Ali to collect 15 points and earlier yesterday he finished third to add another four points to his tally. Japan's Kodai Hasegawa finished second while Hong Kong's Alex Lai and Australia's Kathy O'Hara finished in that order.
"I am very, very happy. This has been a fantastic experience and my six-month stint in Ireland has helped," said Tarhan, who has two listed Turkish race wins under his belt. Tarhan has nearly 50 winners from over 650 rides in Turkey.
The championship, which was held here in the UAE for the first time by Emirates Racing Association in association with the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation, had all the 14 young riders, their connections as well as the large crowd here all excited before the sixth and final race of the series.
After Japan's Kodai Hasegawa rode the Jaber Bittar-trained Shija to victory in the fifth round, the Championship was superbly poised for a thrilling finish. Hasegawa's win took his tally to 26 and helped him push Hong Kong's Alex Lai (25) to second place.
Tarhan on 22 and Australia's Kathy O'Hara on 20 along with the other winner Brandon Lammas (19) of New Zealand were all in with a chance while lurking close behind were Mauritius' Sunil Bussunt (15), Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Aldyeesh (14) and Macau's Pok Hung Chan (13) as well as Bryan Yamzon (12) of The Philippines. But it was Tarhan who came up with a consistent display to finish second and win the title.
Earlier in the evening, Al Reef Stables trainer Jaber Bittar, who registered a triple-win, started off the new season in the capital by sending home a smart winner in Barakat. The 3-year-old Gerbya colt came up with a good run once in the home stretch to win well from Jaci Wickham's Al Abjar W'rsan.
Wickham was, however, on target in the second race when Chilean rider Roberto Sasso opened his account on Doit Myway. Doit Myway collared Erwan Charpy's pick-six favourite Hugor with about 50 metres to go with a late run.
Bittar soon completed his double when Hasegawa won on Shija.
In the feature National Day Prep race, Bittar completed registered his third win of the night on Mawood.