Dubai: Ahmad Ajtebi is known for having created history in the final meeting of Nad Al Sheba last year.
Yesterday, at Meydan's first Dubai World Cup meeting, he scripted another piece of history by winning the Godolphin Mile on Calming Influence to help Mahmoud Al Zarouni make a winning debut as trainer.
The 33-year-old Al Zarouni was named by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as the all-conquering Godolphin Stables' second trainer just three days before the world's richest race meeting.
Pick Seven choice
Calming Influence's stablemate Desert Party was the choice of the Pick Seven players in this Group 2 race which has been dominated by Godolphin.
After the Abdullah Bin Huzaim-trained Le Drakkar had done the initial running, Ajtebi kept Calming Influence just off the pace while Desert Party and Cat Junior were further down.
However, once Ajtebi pressed the button, the 5-year-old son of King's Best cruised into the lead and went on to finish strongly.
Doug Watson's Green Coast, who had finished second to Cat Second in the prep race to this event, once again was superb in a second-place finish yesterday while Godolphin's Skysurfers was third under Ted Durcan.
Winning his very first race and that too on the big night left Al Zarouni choked with emotion.
"I have to thank Shaikh Mohammad and all the trainers with whom I had stints as an assistant."
"Actually I didn't sleep well last night and I was very, very nervous. Any sport is like that, you have to get nervous and excited and more so in horse racing," Al Zarouni said.
Al Zarouni's training yard is situated at Al Asfa on the outskirts of Dubai and it is expected that he will have charge of a team of horses to run in Europe this year, based at Godolphin's Moulton Paddocks yard in Newmarket.
"I'm so happy to win for the trainer. I've been with him for five years," said Ajtebi.
Champion jockey-in-waiting for the UAE season is Tadhg O'Shea who was on Green Coast.
"He's run out of his skin. He's rated a few pounds below the best of these. He's a hold-up horse and he needs daylight, so I had to ride him the way I did," O'Shea said.
"I thought at the furlong pole I might get there, but his run peaked soon after. Still, I'm delighted. It was a terrific run."
— With inputs from Duane Fonseca
