The home stretch for United Colour at Meydan

I was moved with happiness to see Dhruba Selvaratnam’s United Colour winning at Meydan on Thursday night.

Dhruba was one of the first trainers to set the standards in the formative years but has had to endure a wretched spell all season with his out-of-handicap string oftentimes just missing the mark. It has taken him most of the season to regroup and he earned his first double at Jebel Ali two weeks ago.

But perhaps the performance that really brought smiles back to the veteran handler from the Jebel Ali Stables was delivered in emphatic fashion by stable jockey James Doyle, who has exuded great patience.

Doyle rode an impeccable race aboard United Colour, who now represents Dhruba’s big chance of turning around a season he would sooner forget, by winning the Mahab Al Shimaal on Super Saturday en route to booking his place in the Dubai Golden Shaheen on Dubai World Cup night.

I may sound like I’m jumping the gun a bit but I don’t see any harm in indulging in a little wishful thinking. Life is all about special moments and my responsibility is to narrate these wonderful stories to you.

It will undeniably be a terrific story should United Colour go on to recall Dhruba’s glory days of the last century when he won the Golden Shaheen on three occasions with Ramp And Rave, Mudallel and Satank in the inaugural year 1993.

If you know Dhruba, he’s a man who uses his words with restraint. But he usually makes a lot of sense.

By his own admission, he admits that this has been the worst season he has ever had to endure since the start of racing in the UAE in the early 1990s. But he has been patient and everyone knows that there is a reward for perseverance.

You could almost see the sense of fulfilment in James Doyle’s eyes as he flashed past the finishing post aboard United Colour, boldly wagging his right index finger at the disbelievers. You could feel the initial silence before the admiring crowd burst into a victory roar. They just love the bright yellow silks of the Jebel Ali Stables and they love it even more when they’re sported by the winner.

Now that the ice has been broken can we expect to see part two of Doyle’s finger wagging demonstration in the Mahab Al Shimaal next Saturday.

The crowd would love it and so would we.