DUBAI // Reynaldothewizard entered racing folklore by completing a hat-trick of wins in the Dubawi Stakes at Thursday night’s Dubai World Cup Carnival meet.
The 11-year-old gelding by Speightstown and a Zabeel Stables favourite, Reynaldothewizard got up in the final 50 yards to overhaul Muarrab for an emotional victory at the Meydan track.
Richard Mullen, the stable jockey who accompanied Reynaldothewizard on each of his three Dubawi wins, was lost for words in his praise for the old warrior whom he rode to victory for the first time in December 2010.
“My job looks so easy when riding him but a lot of work has gone in from the trainer, head lad, vet and down that order to keep this horses in good shape from year to year,” Mullen said.
“He has competed for seven years at the highest levels and its pure testament to everyone in the yard. You wonder when it would come to an end but we’ll have to take him on race after race and year after year.”
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Mullen had his charge tucked behind in third as Jim Crowley on Muarrab and Pat Dobbs on Desert Force set the early pace over the 1,200-metre trip on the Meydan dirt.
Desert Force dropped out as Mullen went after Muarrab and the two went clear of the rest on the home stretch before Reynadlothewizard moved ahead to win by half-a-length.
“He usually likes to race at the back but I was surprised this time I was able to lay him up in third and once he got to the tail of the horse in front I knew he had the ability to get to the front,” Mullen said.
“He’s a horse of a lifetime for me. He gave me my first Group 1 win [the 2013 Dubai Golden Shaeen]. And he continues to amaze me by continuing to do it despite his advancing age.”
The jockey-trainer combination of Mullen and Satish Seemar also won two earlier races with Town’s History and North America, who was also completing a hat-trick of wins.
“He’s a horse that ticks all the boxes,” Mullen said of North America, who made all the running over the 1,600m distance on the dirt to win from Heavy Metal under Mickael Barzalona.
“He’s got great speed and travels very well. He had to show a lot of resolution as he got hustled at the start. It’s not easy to come out from such a start. I was very pleased the way he did it tonight.”
Saeed bin Suroor entered the winner’s enclosure as Red Galileo took the second race under Christophe Soumillon.
The Godolphin trainer has earmarked the Dubai Gold Cup, the 3,200-metre race on the Dubai World Cup card, as Red Galileo’s main target.
“We plan to run him in a two-mile race that comes up next month and I’m sure he would have come well from this run. And then we’ll take it from there,” the Emirati said.
Bin Suroor saddled a second winner in the final race as Adrie de Vries rode Elhaame to victory.
Red Galileo was returning to the track after an absence of 15 months and he stayed well under Soumillon to win the seven-runner Handicap by a neck from Tadhg O’Shea on Carbon Dating.
Mike de Kock, the South African trainer, saddled his second Carnival winner when Fawree, ridden by Bernard Fayd’Herbe, took the opener.
Fanciful Angel, trained by Newmarket-based Marco Botti, won the fifth race under Daniel Muscutt who kept his mount out of traffic to finish with a strong late run in the 1,600m race.
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