Dubai: Dubai-owned gallopers Al Aasy and Al Suhail were eye-catching winners as Newmarket and York racecourses in the UK staged classy meeting on Thursday, a day when Godolphin’s retained jockey William Buick rode a hat-trick winners including one for Queen Elizabeth.
One of the busiest jockeys on the circuit, Buick has already ridden 29 winners from 112 rides this season, and showed just when he is in demand with wins for three different owners including one for his main employers, Godolphin.
That came aboard the Dubai-owned stable’s 2,000 Guineas disappointment Al Suhail, who ran out a hugely impressive winner of the Listed Bahrain International Sir Henry Cecil Stakes.
The Dubawi colt beat just one horse home in the colt’s Classic but more than compensated for the performance with a comfortable victory for trainer Charlie Appleby, who was keen to draw a line through his Guineas run.
“We just felt if this horse keeps it together, he has plenty of ability there,” Appleby told Racing TV.
“Hopefully this will be a nice experience for him coming down the road and doing it as easy as that. He has got plenty of confidence — it is just about channelling it in the right direction.”
Less than half-an-hour later, Al Aasy delivered another success for Dubai connections when winning the Bahrain Trophy in the colours of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.
Al Aasy is beginning to live up to the high regard in which he is held by William Haggas, following a smooth success in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket.
The son of Sea The Stars, who was beaten on his first two outings, acquitted himself well in Group 3 company to score by a length-and-three-quarters from the favourite Dawn Rising.
Winning jockey Jim Crowley said: “I was impressed. We’ve always held him in high regard.
“He definitely stays but he’s not a slow horse, he’s always shown pace. I just think he’s improving all the time. He’s a big horse and hopefully he’ll keep on improving.”
Trainer Haggas’ wife and assistant Maureen, said: “William has always loved him. He is a beautiful horse. He is bred to be a good horse.
“He is improving and learning. When he won last time, this is where William wanted to come.
“He was our Derby horse -and when William showed him to Sheikh Hamdan as a yearling he said ‘this is the Derby horse’. He just wasn’t experienced enough to go for something like that.
“Hopefully he will be here next year, and he will be a stronger horse again.”
