Tadhg O’Shea crowned UAE champion jockey for 10th time after 'remarkable season'

Tadhg O’Shea and Bhupat Seemar were officially crowned the UAE champion jockey and trainer, respectively, at Abu Dhabi’s final and the season’s penultimate meeting on Thursday.

The Irishman was winning an unprecedented 10th jockeys' title while Seemar was celebrating his first title after taking out his licence in November, filling for his uncle Satish Seemar at the Zabeel Stables.

O’Shea completed a double to take his tally to 67 and extend his lead over Antonio Fresu to 10 ahead of Friday’s final meeting, a seven-race card in Al Ain.

He rode the Ernst Oertel-trained AF Ramz to victory in the third race and completed the double half an hour later on board Reem Baynounah for the Sudanese handler Mohamed Daggash.

O’Shea described sealing his 10th jockeys’ title, riding 67 winners and a first thoroughbred Group 1 winner at the Dubai World Cup as his greatest ever season.

He also thanked Oertel and Khalid Khalifa Al Naboodah, for whom he’s the retained rider, as well as trainer Seemar and the whole team at Zabeel Stables, where he is in his first year as stable jockey.

“I’m very fortunate to ride for two powerful stables, and numerically it’s my best season and I never had so many rides in a season,” the champion jockey said.

"It’s been an amazing year and the 10th championship is very special. I turn 40 in February and it gets harder every year. Antonio pushed me all the way. We managed to pull away in the last couple of weeks.”

O’Shea insisted he doesn’t set himself targets but looked forward to returning to the Zabeel Stables and riding again for Al Naboodah.

“Both stables have had an amazing season and they are going to finish first and second in the championship, which is great,” he added. “They had a good tussle throughout the season. It was one of those ‘pinch yourself’ seasons. I can’t believe it.

Dubai World Cup 2022 - in pictures

“Sometimes I think how many winners I have ridden because in my previous nine championship seasons I have ridden less than 50 winners. All that taken into account, it was a remarkable season.”

AF Ramz’s success also took Al Naboodah’s tally to 40 winners and a fifth UAE owners’ title.

The victory lifted Oertel’s tally to 40, seven behind Seemar, with the final meeting at Al Ain left, in which the South African has runners across six races.

“We had a good season and I can’t complain but I think we were a bit unlucky at times as we had a few injuries, including AF Alwajel [runner up in the Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic last year],” Oertel said.

“It could have been a bit better in terms of the number of winners but still the horses ran well. Second in the trainers' championship is not bad but we want to win.”

However, winning the owners' title for his main patron Al Naboodah was another success Oertel can take credit for.

The feature prize of the meeting, the Group 3 Arabian Triple Crown Round-3 was won by Helal Al Alawi’s Izadi Star under Bernardo Pinheiro.

The four-year-old Azadi colt made it two wins from his two local starts, having won the second round of the three-race series.

“He’s a real good horse with excellent cruising speed toward the finish,” the Brazilian jockey said.

“He was travelling well and I just bided my time in the early part of the race. When I asked him for his effort, he was flying. He’s a young horse and I would like to think he can develop into Group 1 level.”

Results

5pm Al Bithna – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m

Winner Ibn Des Vialettes, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ahmed Al Mehairbi (trainer)

5.30pm Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m

Winner Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel

6pm Al Hayl – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m

Winner AF Ramz, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6.30pm Al Qor – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m

Winner Reem Baynounah, Tadhg O’Shea, Mohamed Daggash

7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-3 – Group 3 (P) Dh300,000 (T) 2,400m

Winner Izadi Star, Bernardo Pinheiro, Helal Al Alawi.

7.30pm Al Khari – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m

Winner Hawa Bilady, Abdulaziz Al Balushi, Rashed Bouresly

The Ashes

Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs

Four-day collections of TOH

Day Indian Rs (Dh)

Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)

Friday 280.25m (14.12m)

Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)

Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)

Total 1.19bn (59.15m)

(Figures in millions, approximate)

THE%20SPECS

%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%203-litre%20V6%20turbo%20(standard%20model%2C%20E-hybrid)%3B%204-litre%20V8%20biturbo%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20350hp%20(standard)%3B%20463hp%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20467hp%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20500Nm%20(standard)%3B%20650Nm%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20600Nm%20(S)%0D%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh368%2C500%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

West Asia Premiership

Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles

Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain

Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins

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Coming soon

Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura

When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Akira Back Dubai

Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.

The specs

Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm

Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km

The specs

Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 217hp at 5,750rpm

Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm

Transmission: eight-speed auto

Price: from Dh130,000

On sale: now

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

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Electric scooters: some rules to remember

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Tadhg O’Shea crowned UAE champion jockey for 10th time after 'remarkable season'

Bhupat Seemar, Khalid Khalifa Al Naboodah bag trainers' and owners' titles

Dubai World Cup 2022 - in pictures

Results

Four-day collections of TOH

THE%20SPECS

West Asia Premiership

While you're here

Coming soon

The specs

The specs

Key facilities

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