ABU DHABI // Veronika Aske, assistant to the two-time UAE champion trainer Ernst Oertel, will leave aside her loyalty to the stable for one race in Abu Dhabi's curtain-raiser meeting on Sunday.
The Norwegian is among 16 female jockeys who are vying for honours in the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Championship, the final race in Abu Dhabi’s six-race card that also includes the final round of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup and the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice Jockeys World Championship.
All three races are for Purebred Arabians and are the culmination of a series of races held in Europe and the United States in the summer.
Aske will be one of the three riders selected outside the 13 winners from the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak race series.
She rides Haajeb, trained by Yousef Al Baloushi. The four-year-old chestnut colt by Mawood is one of the two runners for the Emirati trainer and one of five in the silks of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
There are four entered by Oertel, and Aske has ridden all of them in trackwork.
“I have been drawn to ride a particular horse, so I don’t care for any other horses on that day, even if it is from the stable I work for, because I want to win the prize as any other,” Aske said after Tuesday’s draw ceremony at the Eastern Mangrove Hotel.
“I am very excited to ride again in competition in almost a year. I am fitter than ever as I do 15 gallops a week. I am very competitive and I ride a lot, more than I used to do before, so I am ready to race.”
Aske will also have the advantage of local knowledge, having spent more than two seasons in the Emirates.
“I would think so,” she said when asked if she would benefit from her knowledge of the track and the horses.
“I know the track. I walk the racetrack every race day, and I know the horses in the race as I see them racing. Yet you need to be on a good horse to win.
“I don’t know much about the horse, but I have seen it run a few times and he’s run quite well. It is also nice to ride for Sheikh Mansour and he has a lot of good horses.”
Haajeb rounded off last season with an impressive five-length win at Al Ain in a conditions race, his first in 13 career starts.
Al Baloushi’s other runner, Sha’Red, to be ridden by Italian Giada Menato, looks to carry the first colours of Sheikh Mansour.
The four-year-old grey son of Bibi De Carrere won a Group 3 prize in his only start in the UAE last season. He won once in his six starts in France before arriving in Abu Dhabi.
“It is the first time 16 female jockeys will ride in a championship race in Abu Dhabi,” said Lara Sawaya, director of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival.
"Another interesting fact is a brother and sister [Jaime and Lucia Bautista from Spain] will be riding in the two races, and they can create a piece of history by taking both the championship titles home."
apassela@thenational.ae
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