Dubai: Zabeel Stables supremo Satish Seemar picked up from where he left on Thursday night by landing one of the feature races on the Jebel Ali card on Friday.
Seemar clinched a double, including one of the feature events, in Meydan’s Dubai World Cup Carnival card by saddling the Group 3 Firebreak Stakes with Secret Ambition.
His good run continued at Jebel Ali as Saltarin Dubai was adjudged the winner of the 1950 m Listed Jebel Ali Stakes after a tense uphill battle with Tailor’s Row forced the judges to take a look at the photo finish. The Dubai gelding and Tailor’s Row, trained by Salem Bin Ghadayer, were ridden just off the pace set by Mazagran and Mkfancy and decided to go for it in the long home stretch. The pair passed the lead among themselves with the Jose Santiago-piloted Tailor’s Row, along the rails, taking over briefly before the finish.
Richard Mullen did not throw in the towel aboard Saltarin Dubai, who dug deep and only just managed to stick his nose ahead on the line.
Mullen rode a winner for Seemar on Thursday and he was thrilled to have won again for his chief employer. “It’s always nice to win these races at Jebel Ali and it’s a place that’s been very kind to me over the years,” he said.
It’s good to see Al Tariq winning a nice race like that. He talked me into running him, he ran great here last season if you look at his form and just got beat a little bit. He likes it here
“I’m still trying to win the Sprint, that’s the one that’s eluded me over the years but I’m just delighted with the result and this one is dedicated to Pat Buckley (who died Thursday) and the horse’s owner Ali Haddad because no one deserves a big winner than he does.”
Seemar added: “Ali Haddad has invested a lot in the business and I am happy his horse did it today. Without owners, we are nothing. Ali Haddad is someone who has actually stuck with us through thick and thin and I’m glad we could get him some success today.”
The other feature event on the card was the Listed Jebel Ali Sprint over 1000m, which was claimed by Red Stables trainer-rider pairing of Doug Watson and Pat Dobbs, for whom Al Tariq delivered the goods.
Watson and Dobbs too had won Thursday night. The pair had scored in the opening race of the Meydan card and that winning momentum was carried forward for the yard with five-year-old Oasis Dream gelding Al Tariq, who landed the spoils by a length and a quarter from stablemate Fanaar ridden by Dane O’Neill.
Al Tariq looked smart stepping into the gates in the bright orange colours of Abdul Mohsen Al Abdul Kareem and once the gates flung open, he burst forward and stayed there with Dobbs executing a textbook ride from the saddle. Al Tariq ran just a little ahead of his rivals and was given his final orders about 300m from the finish from where he stepped up gears to win comfortably.
Finishing a further three lengths back in third was Musabbeh Al Mheiri’s Alkaraama with Jim Crowley up.
Watson said: “ It’s good to see Al Tariq winning a nice race like that. He talked me into running him, he ran great here last season if you look at his form and just got beat a little bit. He likes it here. And it was just a matter of whether he had the pace and he had the pace here and stayed on well too cause you know he gets at least seven. I’m so pleased.”
Watson ended the afternoon with a double as Dehbashi nailed the last race the 1800m handicap under Tadgh O’Shea, who was also claiming a second success - having won the card opening 1400m Purebred Arabian maiden for UAE breds with the Ernst Oertel-schooled AF Soqrat.
Ras Al Khaimah based trainer Bouresly also scored twice on the card with Adrie de Vries bringing in Balletomane home first in the 1200m handicap.
- The writer is a sports journalist based in the UAE
