ABU DHABI // Doug Watson arrives at the capital’s racecourse having seen his horses complete a treble at Jebel Ali on Friday, and he will look to continue that success with three entries in the feature race on Sunday night, the Al Reem Island handicap.
Udabaa, the winner of this race last year in the silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, carries Watson’s hopes in the race, which has drawn the maximum 16 entries over the 2,200-metre distance.
“Conditions clearly suit him and he has improved a lot from his first run of the season on the opening day at Jebel Ali,” Watson said. “He had already had a run when winning this last season and the horses are running well on the whole. He should be competitive in what looks a tough race.” Watson’s other runners are Mujrayaat for the same owner and Dr Faustus, fifth in the same race last year, for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed. Satish Seemar also has three entered with stable jockey Richard Mullen choosing to ride Antinori.
“He ran well enough on his reappearance,” Mullen said. “That was on dirt and this return to turf should suit him. “We have a reasonable draw in eight and he should go well but it looks a very competitive heat.”
The five other races on the card are for the Purebred Arabians with the Al Rawda Handicap the most valuable with prize money of Dh95,000.
Ernst Oertel, the two-time UAE champion trainer, has a strong hand with three entered in the race run over 1,600m.
Tadhg O’Shea, the UAE champion and stable jockey, partners Richly Blessed, the leading contender in the 11-runner field.
The stable apprentice Daniel Muscutt rides TM Junior Johnson and Jose Santiago is onboard Swyft.
The Saeed Hadher Al Mazrouei-trained Live Rich, a course and distance winner when ridden by O’Shea three weeks ago, will be the main threat to Oertel’s runners.
apassela@thenational.ae
TM AC-DC TAKES AL AIN FEATURE
Young jockey Oisin Murphy and trainer Omar Daraj Mohammed combined to land the featured 1,000-metre conditions race at Al Ain on Saturday afternoon with TM AC-DC.
Always near the head of affairs, the pair hit the front about 200m from home but had to dig deep to hold off the late challenges of Wald Johnny and finally A’Nnabak W’Rsan.
The trio, half of the six-strong field, were separated by just over a length at the line.
“We went pretty quick for a Purebred Arabian race,” said Murphy. “He clearly has some speed and then showed his tenacity to fight off the other pair. It is nice to get a winning outside ride on a Purebred Arabian.”
- Agency
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