Chiefdom hands Salem bin Ghadayer his first Group Three Jebel Ali Mile trophy

Royston Ffrench seals comfortable victory as trainer Bin Ghadayer weighs up options

Chiefdom, trained by Salem bin Ghadayer and ridden by Royston Ffrench, won in Jebel Ali on Friday. Erika Rasmussen for The National

Salem bin Ghadayer described Chiefdom as a “super horse” after he provided the Emirati trainer with his first Group Three Jebel Ali Mile trophy in five years of trying.

Royston Ffrench raced behind the early pacesetter Just A Penny (Dane O’Neill) for the first 600 metres before stepping on the gas to run away a comfortable winner from Shamaal Nibras by a length and-a-quarter at the Jebel Ali racecourse on Friday.

Chiefdom has been a revelation this season. He’s won four of his five starts and was runner up to the Doug Watson-trained Ex-Godolphin horse Golden Goal in his third last start at Meydan.

“He really is a super horse,” Al Ghadayer said of the five-year-old son of The Factor.

“He broke his maiden by more than eight lengths and has been on the upgrade since then. He’s now won on the turf at Meydan and runner up on the dirt at the same track. This is his third win in three starts at Jebel Ali.

“He’s got a lot of quality and we still don’t know of his true potential and where he will reach.”

Bin Ghadayer believes he’s got many options for Chiefdom with plenty of races coming up in the Dubai World Cup Carnival and a possible entry in the Dubai World Cup meeting itself.

“We started with zero with him,” he said. “There is a lot of options for him but I’ll have to sit down with his owner and the jockey to discuss where he goes next.

“There are two or three good races for him over the mile trip in the Dubai World Cup Carnival. The Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 and 3 are also options we can think of because he’s got the ability to do well at that level.”

Bin Ghadayer has won many valuable prizes at Jebel Ali, including the Jebel Ali Stakes and Jebel Ali Sprint, but missing in his trophy cupboard was the Jebel Ali Mile.

“Two years ago my jockey (Ffrench) fell from Frankyfourfingers in this race and for him to come back and win this race was a remarkable achievement for him and me,” Bin Ghadayer added.

“Chiefdom won his maiden over the course and distance (November 15) and at that time he’s a horse for the Godolphin Mile (on the Dubai World Cup night) even though it was too early to say such things.

“He proving it to be. He’s won all his races pretty well. For me, he’s one of the best horses I have trained.”

Ffrench added: “He’s a very likeable horse. There was no pace in the race and I was happy to go with the lead horse. When I asked him for an effort, he picked up really and won pretty well at the end.”