Richard Hills praises 'tough and honest' Tenor Des Vialettes

The steed produced another masterful performance in the Arabian Triple Crown to give al Muhairi the lead in the trainer's championship.

Aberfeldy and jockey Royston Ffrench hold on to win the Group 1 Liwa Oasis.

ABU DHABI // Tenor Des Vialettes underlined his status as the best juvenile Purebred Arabian in the UAE with another masterful victory in the Arabian Triple Crown to complete a sweep of the three-race series.

The four-year-old extended his winning streak to four - he also won the UAE Arabian Derby - when making all the running to take the Group 3 prize for jockey Richard Hills last night at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club's penultimate meeting of the season.

"He is a champion prospect and we will have plenty of options with him the next season," said Ali Mohammed al Muhairi, the racing manager for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the owner.

"Obviously the final decision will have to come from Sheikh Hamdan, but I would like to [take] a crack at the Maktoum Challenge Round 1 and, if that works out, then we have the President's Cup and the Kahayla Classic as goals for him.

"But for the time being, he has earned a rest. He has done more than what we expected out of him, winning from a mile to one-and-a-half miles, a clean sweep of the Arabian Triple Crown series and the UAE Arabian Derby."

Tenor's Round 3 victory also took Musabah al Muhairi's tally to 30 to put him one ahead in the trainer's championship over Ali Rashid al Raihe, the defending champion.

Hills was forced to make the running in the five-runner field over the one-and-a-half mile trip and, when challenged, the veteran Englishman was able to coax enough out of his mount to win by a neck from Frynchman under Kieren Fallon, the six-time British champion jockey.

"He is tough and honest horse with a big heart," said Hills, who rode him in all three rounds of the Triple Crown series.

"He has improved after every race and stayed strongly at the end to win his last two races."

Hills claimed the opener on Quite A Show, a handicap run over 1,400 metres, and rode Versac PY to a dead-heat with Borkan Al Zobair, ridden by Tadhg O'Shea, half-an-hour later in a maiden over 2,200m.

Aberfeldy was the surprise winner of the Liwa Oasis, the feature prize of the six-race card. The eight-year-old mare under Royston Ffrench burst through the pack and held off the favourite Dariya, ridden by Ted Durcan, to win by more than a length to give Julio Peromingo, the Sharjah-based French trainer, his first Group 1 winner.

Xavier Ziani made all the running on Iguazu Falls to win the concluding prize, the solitary race for the thoroughbreds, from Hello Morning, ridden by Willie Supple, and Dr Smart (Fallon).

"He seems to love this course," said the Algerian. "He was my first winner for the season on this course and won again tonight."

Harry Bentley steered Omayade Thabet to win the Wathba Stud Farm Cup from Sarabella.