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O’Shea lands Abu Dhabi Championship double on capital card which mixed quality with quantity
The Thoroughbreds were the centre of attraction at Abu Dhabi on Thursday, seven runners, by far the smallest field on the six-race card, facing the starter in the 2200m Listed Abu Dhabi Championship and won in stylish fashion by the only filly in the race, the 4yo Wickywickywheels, saddled by Bhupat Seemar for the ever enthusiastic James ‘Jimmy’ Mearns Long who also bred the 4yo daughter of his own The Carbon Unit and completing an Abu Dhabi Championship double for Tadhg O’Shea. Making her local debut, the filly has now won six times this year after five victories in Long’s native Scotland for Jim Goldie. There may well be more to come on this evidence. O’Shea said: “That is a wonderful result for the yard and a very enthusiastic owner/breeder. We are all delighted.” Long added: “She is a special filly and we think she is very good. We have a plan mapped out at the carnival, as long as she stays sound. I have all the family so, as a breeder, this is a big result and just brilliant.”
Also a Listed contest but for 3yos, the 1600m Abu Dhabi Championship Purebred Arabian, attracted a capacity field of 16 but 15 may as well have stayed at home with Unleashed, always travelling the best under O’Shea, basically having the race to himself over the concluding 250m, the duo scoring impressively for Jaber Bittar and Al Reef Stables. The colt has now won half of his four career starts, adding this big race success to a 1600m maiden victory on the Al Ain dirt on his penultimate and second racecourse appearance. O’Shea said: “I had a lovely tow into the race and then, once we were in front, he perhaps idled a bit but I was always confident we were going to hold on. This fellow will probably be better over a bit further.”
A 2200m handicap was also due to be contested by a capacity field, in this case 14, but only 13 finally went to post, Pat Dobbs again proving he is as good as anybody on Purebred Arabians (he really does pick and choose his mounts in this genre), combining with Al Ajban Stables and their principal trainer, Abdallah Al Hammadi, to land the spoils aboard Only Smoke. A 5yo entire, the horse was registering a third career victory after 13 starts but a first on turf at the fifth attempt. Dobbs said: “The plan was actually to make the running but the leader went plenty quick enough so I was happy enough to take a lead and then we had the gap when we needed after he has galloped home strongly.”
Dobbs wasted no time completing a course and distance double, enjoying a facile victory, despite a narrow winning margin, aboard Suny Du Loup in the UAE Arabian Derby, a conditions contest with Prestige status for 4yos, again fully subscribed with 14 runners, this time sporting the silks of Hamad Al Murshed Khamis Al Marar who also trains the colt, now a winner four times from ten outings. Dobbs said: “He is a nice horse who has a turn of foot and I was probably in front too soon. You could drop him in trip as he has plenty of natural pace. I like him.”
The maximum allowed of 16 contested the opening 1400m maiden, for horses foaled locally, but from just under 200m out only one really mattered, Richard Mullen shooting clear aboard Maimoon to confirm the recent resurgence of the Al Asayl team and trainer Salim Al Ketbi. Content to settle just in behind the early leaders, Mullen pulled out at the top of the straight before delivering his winning challenge soon after. The 4yo gelding was having just his second career start and had clearly benefitted from his Al Ain debut in the middle of November. He was then withdrawn three weeks ago having broken out of the stalls. Mullen said: “He is a nice horse but far from easy as we saw three weeks ago when he went under the stalls and we had to withdraw him which was disappointing as we thought he would win. He has the potential and hopefully we can get him to focus going forward because he is a decent prospect but probably a turf horse as opposed to a dirt one.”
The Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners Only, a 1600m handicap also attracted a full field of 16 and, on paper at least, appeared particularly competitive but in fact proved a relatively straightforward task for AF Kal Noor, soon in front under apprentice Marcelino Rodrigues with the pair in control from just over 200m out for Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda and Ernst Oertel. Homebred, as are the vast majority of Champion Owner Al Nabooda’s string, the 7yo entire was winning for the fourth time but first both on turf and over 1600m. Oertel said: “He ran just last week but he is the type of horse you can run back quickly. We knew, with Marcelino’s apprentice claim, he had a good chance and the plan was always to be positive. Luckily it went to plan!” Source: Emirates Racing Authority Welcome to Arabian Horse Intl
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