Ghalib lands feature event at Al Ain

Al Ain: Emirati handler Majed Al Jahouri picked up the big prize at Al Ain Racecourse on Friday when he saddled Ghalib to win the Dh90,000 Al Basrah Conditions event under apprentice Marc Monoghan.

Bred at the Al Wathba Stud Farm in France, Ghalib was notching his first win in almost three years, Al Wathba Stud Farm is owned by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Mandragore Al Maury, trained by Eric Lemartinel and ridden by Noel Garbutt, finished three quarters of a length back in second.

Emirati apprentice Saeed Al Mazrouei landed the main support race on the card, the Dh80,000 Al Rawdhah Conditions Stakes aboard the Yousef Al Baloushi-trained Haajeb.

It was only the second success of the season for the Etihad Stables’s rookie trained following Sha’Red’s dead-heat victory in the Group 3 Al Ruwais at Abu Dhabi last month. The winner brought up Al Mazrouei’s eighth win of what has been a very promising season.

Former UAE champion trainer Dhruba Selvaratnam also made his track to Al Ain worthwhile when Sowaylm landed the Dh60,000 Al Hili Handicap, the only thoroughbred race on the six-event card.

The winner was given a smooth ride by apprentice Thomas Brown to score by a length and three quarters from Etijaah, the mount of Sam Hitchcott.

Al Asayl handler Ernst Oertel continued his confident march to a second UAE trainer’s championship when saddling the first two home in the Oud Al Toubah Maiden.

The race was won by a length and three quarters by Tadhg O’Shea aboard Nashmee, with Razeen following occupying second place under Pat Cosgrave.