Jockey Gerald Avranche believes RB Burn is in the form to repeat last year's success when he lines to try and retain the Group 1 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown on Friday at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club.
He won the 2016 event with a confident performance after starting from Gate 2 and making his move on the final bend to charge home first after taking the lead with 200 metres to go.
This time, though, RB Burn has to deal with a wide draw. He jumps out of gate No14 from the 15 starters as he bids to retain his hold on the €1.2million (Dh5.1m) prize for the Purebred Arabians.
RB Burn won the Group 1 Liwa Oasis on the track and in-between was runner up in the both the Maktoum Challenge Round 1 and the Dubai Kahayla Classic on the Dubai World Cup meeting.
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Avranche, who has ridden the five-year-old grey son of Majd Al Arab in all his four starts, was naturally concerned of the draw.
“He is a very good and versatile horse,” said the Frenchman. “He seems in the same kind of form as he was before the race last year but I would have preferred a better draw.”
Eric Lemartinel who trains RB Burn also has Mahbooba in the race, ridden by Tadhg O’Shea.
Mahbooba, the winner of the Group 1 Emirates Championship over 2,200m on the concluding meeting in Abu Dhabi last season, is well drawn the widest in gate 15.
“We are out in the car park,” joked O’Shea. “The only positive about stall 15 is the two inside us, RB Burn and Muraaqib, are probably the two to beat. So, hopefully I can track them.
“She shows her best form at Abu Dhabi and stays further so, hopefully, they will go quick and her stamina can come into play. We should be staying on strongly.”
Muraaqib in the popular silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid and trained in France, by Francois Rohaut is making his local debut.
The five-year-old chestnut son of Munjiz ridden by the owner’s retained jockey Jim Crowley is a winner of seven of his nine starts, including five Group 1 prizes.
He’s won two of his three starts in 2017, and most recently in Turkey, and looks a big danger to all.
Shateh trained by another Frenchman Jean de Roualle in Al Ain is another to be considered.
Richard Mullen, the UAE champion jockey, is atop the eight-year-old chestnut by Mahabb drawn in gate No.1.
“He is a nice horse and seems in good form,” said Mullen. “It is, obviously, a very good race but we have drawn well and should be thereabouts.”
The six-race card, comprising of five races for Arabians and one for thoroughbreds, include the finals of the 2017 Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, a series of races for both women jockeys and apprentices.
Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
Scores in brief:
- New Medical Centre 129-5 in 17 overs bt Zayed Cricket Academy 125-6 in 20 overs.
- William Hare Abu Dhabi Gymkhana 188-8 in 20 overs bt One Stop Tourism 184-8 in 20 overs
- Alubond Tigers 138-7 in 20 overs bt United Bank Limited 132-7 in 20 overs
- Multiplex 142-6 in 17 overs bt Xconcepts Automobili 140 all out in 20 overs
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The specs: 2017 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali
Price, base / as tested Dh207,846 / Dh220,000
Engine 6.2L V8
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque 624Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined 13.5L / 100km
