Mizzna shocks favourite Dahess

Abu Dhabi: Mizzna, bred and owned by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, brought back memories of her illustrious mother Alanudd as she shocked favourite Dahess to land the Liwa Oasis Group 1 race here yesterday.

Trained by Eric Lemartinel and brilliantly ridden by Tadhg O'Shea, the 5-year-old Mizzna took on the boys including Qatar's champion runner Dahess and landed the spoils with a driving finish on her UAE debut.

It was a memorable night for Lemartinel and O'Shea as they combined once again in the very next race to win the Emirates Classic, a Dh100,000 Prestige race, with Rafed and complete a big double.

Trainer Jaber Bittar also notched up a double for the night.

Dahess, winner of this race in a record time in 2004 and with 23 wins under his belt, looked to be headed for another win under David Bouland when O'Shea came up with a driving finish on the rails with Mizzna with about a furlong to go.

Settle down

The Alban de Mieulle-trained Dahess finished second with Gillian Duffield's Al Kesbe under Richard Hills in third place.

Mizzna and O'Shea received a rousing welcome into the winner's enclosure, to which her mother Alanudd had been to every time in her career barring one loss.

Mizzna's record now reads four wins and four seconds in eight starts.

"She was very good, jumped well and settled down well.

"Eric asked me to settle her down and once she did, it was a nice run along the rails," said O'Shea after winning the Dh250,000 Group 1 event.

"Dahess is a champion horse and very hard to beat. It is a marvellous achievement to come out as the only filly in the race and beat the boys in a Group 1 race," added the winning jockey.

Lemartinel and O'Shea wrapped up the double win when Rafed made it a start to finish affair in the Emirates Classic with stablemate and favourite Jaifar finishing fourth.

It was the third start for the Tahar De Candelon son and the bay colt won by more than six lengths from Chessman.

Earlier in a 11-furlong Conditions race, Gillian Duffield's Mabrum scored a fine win under Richard Hills, getting the better of top weight Al Moutawakel and the highly-rated Daffah.