ABU DHABI // Dhruba Selvaratnam, a four-time UAE champion trainer, has yet to saddle a winner after 14 race meetings. That moment may arrive on Sunday night at the capital’s track.
Forjatt, successful in the National Day Cup 12 months ago, returns to the track for his title defence of the Listed prize and to provide his handler a first winner for the campaign.
The eight-year-old gelded son of Iffraaj has been consistent and won four times on the track at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Centre, three of which were over the same distance of 1,600 metres.
Forjatt has 10 victories under his belt and has not been out of the top three in 34 of his 38 career starts.
Returning for his first run of the season, he ran a good fourth in the Prep race behind Shamaal Nibras, and a third place in the Championship three weeks ago.
“He needed that first outing quite badly,” Selvaratnam said. “Shamaal Nibras was impressive and Championship ran very well but Forjatt should be competitive.”
Selvaratnam has an excellent record in the race, having won the prize with Emirates Gold (2007 and 2008) and Jaasoos (2009 and 2010).
He hopes Forjatt can provide him with a record sixth victory in a race.
Doug Watson, the UAE champion trainer, has pinned his hopes on a repeat from Shamaal Nibras.
“We were very pleased with that win in the prep,” the American said.
“Our horses were tending to need their first run back so, hopefully, he has progressed since then. He is in great shape and we expect him to be very competitive.”
Of the others, the Satish Seemar-trained Cross Grain looks interesting.
He has won his seasonal debut in each of the last three years, including over 1,400m on turf at Abu Dhabi last season.
“He is a horse we have always liked but has not been the easiest to train,” Richard Mullen, the stable jockey, said.
“Hopefully 1,600m on turf will really suit him and we are looking forward to running him.”
The other five races are for the Purebred Arabians and the main support race is the Group 3 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup.
Only fifth in this last year, he still looks the one to beat this time and is reunited with Harry Bentley who has a particularly good record on him.
The Majed Al Jahouri-trained Thakif, winner of the race in 2014, spearheads the eight-runner field that also include a trio – Abhaar, Abu Alabyad and Hamza – trained by Eric Lemartinel challenging for the prize.
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