The Al Ain racetrack has turned out to be a happy hunting ground for Emirati trainer Salem Al Ketbi and his Al Asayl stable, as well as UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea.
The partnership racked up a treble by scooping three of the four prizes for the Purebred Arabian events in the six-race card meeting on Friday night.
The treble took O’Shea’s tally to 25 winners and within four of the leader Richard Mullen in the jockey’s championship race.
Al Ketbi took his total of winners to 12, eight of which have come on the Al Ain track after he took charge of the Abu Dhabi stables temporarily until Ernst Oertel returns from his lengthy suspension that ends in April. O’Shea set the ball rolling with Rabdan in the opener. The four-year-old gelded son of Calin Du Loup made smooth headway from the back of the field to win from Tha’Er by four lengths.
The Irishman had to really work hard to win the next two on Razeen in the fourth race and Sheikh Down in the fifth, who led a one-two-three finish for the stable in the featured and concluding Al Ain Stayers Series Round-2.
O’Shea rode a waiting race on Sheikh Down over the 3,200 metres trip. He bided his time before producing a late challenge to pip stable companions Burj Khalifa (Royston Ffrench) and Munzade (Shane Karlsson) by a head and a neck in a driving finish.
The champion jockey’s bid for a four-timer on the night was foiled by apprentice George Buckell, who made the most of his allowance to steer Safina Ghantoot to victory in the Al Ain Sprint Series Round-2.
O’Shea on TM Junior Johnson was attempting to repeat the success of winning the opening leg of the sprint series but found conceding six kilograms too much as they went down by three-quarters of a length after having every chance over the 1,000m dash.
“The horses, particularly the Arabians, are in good form and I am fortunate to ride them for the stables,” said O’Shea who is attempting to win his fifth UAE jockeys title.
Dane O’Neill celebrated a double on the night, steering the Doug Watson-trained Etijaah to victory by more than 14 lengths for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s 700th winner in the UAE.
He was back in the winner’s enclosure a half hour later when his NS Shamikh clinched the next race in the last stride for Emirati trainer Ahmed Al Mehairbi.
The racing continues today at Meydan Racecourse, with a six-race card beginning at 3pm.
apassela@thenational.ae
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