No stopping Al Raihe

Dubai: Yirga helped champion trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe extend his dominance of the feature race at Jebel Ali Racecourse when justifying strong favouritism among Pick Seven players to run out a compelling winner of the Prep race for the Listed Jebel Ali Stakes, one of three ‘black type' races that the venue will stage next month.

A five-year-old son of leading Gainsborough stallion Cape Cross, the sire of top horses like Sea The Stars and Ouija Board, Yirga comfortably held off the challenge of home hope Mulaqat to score by two and a half lengths, while Brazilian raider Oroveso was a length and a half back in third.

Yirga gave Al Raihe a season's fourth victory in the feature race at Jebel Ali after Mujaazef's hat-trick.

"The horse is improving all the time, so we are very happy with his victory today," said Al Raihe. "We will bring him back for the Jebel Ali Stakes, but before that we might take him to Meydan for the Carnival. He goes well on the Tapeta where he has come close three times.

"He's a much improved horse this year and we would like to give him more options."

It was a bittersweet kind of day for the Emirati handler whose triple winner Mujaazef was denied a fourth consecutive win at the course when outpaced by Dhruba Selvaratnam's outstanding seven-year-old mare Alo Pura in the GEMS World Academy-sponsored thoroughbred conditions event.

Alo Pura holds the track record for 1200 metres on the All Weather at Meydan racecourse and she displayed an incredible turn of foot under James Doyle to come home three lengths clear of a hard-ridden Mujaazef while Satish Seemar's 2010 Jebel Ali Sprint winner Terrific Challenge was a further length and a half back in third.

No official time was taken for the race but you did not need a stopwatch to tell you just how fast the race was run.

Selvaratnam, who was completing a meet double having earlier sent out Tesslam to win the Al Shafar Investment handicap over a mile, was delighted with Al Pura's form in this her first racecourse appearance since January.

Injury problems

"She's had her share of injury problems, but she's a class horse who always gives one hundred percent," said the handler. "We were hopeful but to be honest, we did not expect her to win this easy.

"She's even better at Meydan (Tapeta), so we try to find some decent handicaps for her. She won two races at the Carnival last year, and we'd like to think that she can continue from where she left off, given the form that she has shown today."

Meanwhile, owner/trainer Rashed Bouresly won his first race of the season when Mutajammel upset favourite Daboos to land the Al Shafar Group-sponsored handicap over seven furlongs. The nine-year-old son of King Mambo who has done most of his racing at Jebel Ali was notching his fourth success at the track following a smart ride by France-based jockey Yohann Bourgois.