Dubai // Sholaan, trained on the track by Dhruba Selvaratnam for racecourse patron Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid, landed the featured 1,200-metre handicap at Jebel Ali on Friday afternoon, winning in the UAE for the first time in seven attempts.
Sholaan has yet to run a bad race locally, and the five-year-old gelding tracked a fierce early gallop under stable jockey James Doyle before surging to the front 200m out. The pair stormed clear to record an impressive victory.
“They went quick up front which has helped Sholaan find his stride, but we knew a couple of these are better over 1,400m so I was conscious not to make it a stamina test,” Doyle said. “When we hit the front he quickened well and was running on strongly at the end.”
The only Purebred Arabian race on the card, the opening 1,600m conditions race, was won by Harry Bentley aboard Safir Bainuna, the pair recording a third victory of the season, but a first on dirt, for the trainer Ahmed Al Mehairbi, who also owns the winner.
“He seemed to be getting tired as we hit the hill but then responded gamely and we hit the front very late on,” Bentley said. “He has been a good servant for me this season and to win three races is great for a small yard.
“I think he is improving.”
The former UAE champion jockey Wayne Smith, who suffered a broken collarbone at Jebel Ali on December 13, made it third time lucky on his comeback with the smooth success of Art Wave in the Arabian Scandinavian Insurance handicap over 1,400m.
Trained by Smith’s main employer, Musabah Al Muhairi, Art Wave was an excellent third on his local debut two weeks ago and relished this extra 200m.
“He will stay farther and 1,600m will probably be his optimum at he moment,” Smith said. “He is, potentially, a nice horse.”
For the second Jebel Ali meeting in succession, Pat Dobbs and Henry Clay made virtually every yard of the running in an 1,800m handicap for trainer Doug Watson.
“He is a really honest, genuine, horse and I would like to think he is still improving,” Watson said. “He clearly loves this surface and hopefully will be a fun horse over the next year or so.”
Tiz Now Tiz Then bounced back to winning ways in a 1,600m handicap to the delight of Richard Mullen, riding for his main employer, Satish Seemar. “This is a horse who has always had us scratching our heads,” Mullen said. “He broke the 1,400m track record here when winning here last season but has often shown enough speed for 1,200m and has just proved so hard to win with. Everything has gone perfectly today and he stayed on well over the 1,600m.”
Seemar completed a rapid double with Returning Hero, the mount of the stable apprentice Marc Monaghan, in the concluding 1,600m maiden.
“I was pretty hopeful as he has produced some good form here at Jebel Ali,” Monaghan said. “It was not a great race but he did it well.”
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