Mahbooba uses her head to clinch race over Sniper De Monlau

ABU DHABI // Chaotic scenes followed a photo finish in the Group 3 Triple Crown Round 2, the feature race of Sunday night’s meeting in the capital.

Richard Mullen on Mahbooba and Hector Crouch onboard Sniper De Monlau, the winner of Round 1, crossed the winning post almost together, one on the inside rail and the other on the outside.

The connections of Sniper De Monlau were celebrating in the winner’s enclosure, but not for long as the verdict arrived that the filly trained by Eric Lemartinel had held on to win by a short head.

“I was not sure watching the replays on the screen while we made our way back to the paddocks,” Mullen said.

“I was pretty disappointed then. However, she is a nice filly and this was the second start and she had to do it by being all the way in the front. I think she has got a lot of improvement and it was a nice good spare ride to come in and win.”

Mullen was left with the third choice on the Al Asayl Stables with three entries in the 2,200-metre race.

Tadhg O’Shea, the leading jockey and the stable’s first choice, was fifth on Cloe De Faust in the seven-runner race, and Gerald Avranche, the Al Asayl-based rider was fourth onboard Badira De Monlau.

“It was hard to choose from the three in a very strong stable,” Mullen said. “Tadhg was very keen on her when the entries came around. He took her for a ride and felt she was very graceful.

“I spoke to Gerald, who rode her to victory in Al Ain five weeks ago, and he too complimented her on her win. So I knew I had a chance with her.”

Mullen made every yard of the running and staved off the challenge from the Helal Al Alawi’s pair Sniper De Monlau and Badira De Monlau to clinch the Dh300,000 prize.

Sniper de Monlau may have won if he had not drifted right across to the outside rail, losing a lot of ground in the process.

Mahbooba’s victory gave trainer Eric Lemartinel a double, after Hamza made all the running under O’Shea to win the Emirates Colts Classic, for four-year-old colts and geldings bred in the UAE.

Mullen also rounded off the evening with a double, steering Al Ajban Stables’ Sataar Al Reef to win the final race on the card.

Khusoosy made an impressive start to his campaign in the UAE, winning the Abu Dhabi Championship Prep, the solitary race for the thoroughbreds over the same 2,200m trip.

Paul Hanagan had him second last in the eight-runner field until they approached the final bend when he unleashing a strong run to win by a length-and-three-quarters from Mustahdaf under O’Shea.

“He had some decent form before moving to our stables,” the winning trainer, Ali Rashid Al Raihe, said.

“He had won four times and we were hopeful. He did it nicely on his first start for us and hopefully he will return for the Abu Dhabi Championship.”

[e-mail] us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport