ABU DHABI // It was a night Richard Mullen will savour for a long, long time.
The UAE champion jockey in 2014/2015 created history by becoming the first jockey to win The President Cup for both the Purebred Arabians and thoroughbreds on the same night.
In fact, Mullen scooped all three main prizes and rounded off the evening with a fourth win by claiming the concluding handicap on the six-race card at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club.
In the marquee event, The President Cup for Purebred Arabians, Mullen had Loraa well-placed in fourth until they approached the final turn on the 2,200-metre race, where he unleashed her with a run on the home stretch to win by a neck from Sniper De Monlau and jockey Royston Ffrench.
Abu Alabyad, the 2015 winner and runner-up last year, was third under Gerald Avranche. Mahbooba, ridden by Tadhg O’Shea, was fifth and never threatened to challenge for the prize.
“This is the main win and I was under a lot of pressure,” Mullen said after his win on Loraa. “I want to thank trainer Jean [de Roualle] and his team because he has done a remarkable job. He told me he had a lot of issues after her run in November [in the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, where she was tailed off]. He brought her back here and she ran third in the Prep race over tonight’s [2,200m] distance. He told me that I’ll be riding a completely different horse and he was spot on.”
Mullen had earlier steered the Satish Seemar-trained Akeed Champion to win the thoroughbred equivalent. The five-year-old bay has won at the track in all his three visits. Mullen had him tucked in fourth and burst through on the last 200m to win from Kitaaby, under Bernard Fayd’Herbe, by more than a length over the 1,400m trip.
“The win is great for my team and myself and the owner Bobby Kapoor with his horse,” Seemar said.
“Bobby and I have been friends forever. We have been in the same school and then in the same university. We have been in touch and he kept telling me to help him buy a horse.
“And in one of the Tattersalls auctions I called him to say I had found a horse for him.”
Along with his wins in the two President Cup races, Mullen also guided AF Marrah to victory in the second race, the Emirates Fillies Classic, and rounded off by taking the concluding handicap on AF Thobor for trainer Ernst Oertel.
Loraa was winning for the first time in her third local start and will now be aimed at the Kahayla Classic, the Arabian showpiece and traditional opener of the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 25 at Meydan Racecourse.
The seven-year-old chestnut mare by Mawood took her tally to seven wins from 16 career starts.
She has also either finished second or third seven times.
However, she has never run on the dirt. If she is aimed at the Kahayla, it will be her first time on the surface.
“We plan to take her to Meydan in three weeks and we’ll see how she handles the surface,” De Roualle said.
“I’ll be honest with what the rider will have to say from the workouts. If she handles it, then we go straight into Dubai World Cup meeting. Otherwise I’ll tell the owners that’s not the race for her.”
Fernando Jara, the 2007 Dubai World Cup winning jockey, took the opener on Sarab Al Reef and Antonio Fresu rode Madjanthis to victory in the fifth race, the Wathba Stud Farm Cup.
apassela@thenational.ae
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