Ashton Tourettes stunned the Group 3 Al Ruwais field for the biggest prize of his career at Abu Dhabi’s seven-race card on Monday.
The seven year old son of No Risk Al Maury, under Pat Dobbs, made steady progress from the middle of the field to finish the best among 11 runners and clinch the 1,200-metre sprint from Hazeem Al Raed and AF Alajaj by one-and-a-quarter lengths and a neck respectively.
“He’s a beautiful mover and nice horse,” Dobbs, who was riding the horse for the first time, said.
“He’s won over the track and trip [last year]. He lost his way a bit early in the race but finished very strongly. Nice spare ride for me tonight.”
Bernardo Pinheiro, on Majed Al Jahouri’s Rawaa, set a strong early pace followed by the Omani raider Arif. The chasing trio had a bit of catching up to do, which they eventually did close to home.
“This is his sixth start for the season and won twice before tonight’s success,” Ashton Tourettes' handler Ibrahim Aseel said.
“This was a big step up and he did well. To be honest, he has shown a lot of ability in his recent starts and we expected him to run a big race but he surprised us with the win.”
Richard Mullen on Mujeeb came from almost the back of the field to collar Soko with Olivier Peslier in the saddle close to the winning line to take the President’s Cup Prep run over the 2,200m distance.
“I really saw a classy individual,” Mullen said of the five-year-old son of Dahess on his half-a-length win over the Group 1 winner in France.
“I don’t ride him at home and I want to thank all those riders who do all that hard work for this result tonight. He missed the break but he finished like a really good horse.
“He’s a proper horse. We are still learning about him as he didn’t have many options at the start of the season. He ran over the course and distance on his reappearance to finish third before unplaced over mile.
“He’s a good Arab horse with gears. There’s not many Arabians who would quicken like he did. He’s mentally tough and he certainly looks one that can take us to the next level.”
Mullen completed a double on the night by picking up the concluding prize for the thoroughbreds atop Nibraas for his main Jebel Ali Stables’ trainer Nicholas Bachalard.
Tadhg O’Shea rode a double on Ernst Oertel’s AF Rasam and AF Mukhrej, both in the silks of his main patron Khalid Khalifa Al Naboodah, and took him them two clear of Ajban Stables in the UAE owner’s championship.
The nine-time UAE champion jockey was denied of a treble when Antonio Fresu on Jawal Al Reef edged out Hameem in a photo finish.
Qaiss Aboud celebrated his first winner of the season when Pinheiro on MM Al Balqaa made all to win the opener.
