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Al Majh’hoor (Mared Al Sahra-Dixie Darlene) saddled by Julian Smart posted a thrilling victory in the Qatar Pure Arabian Derby, which featured the nine-event card at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club yesterday. Sporting the colours of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani, Al Majh’hoor with Dubai based jockey Harry Bentley in the saddle, galloped on resolutely in the final furlong to come from the fifth-sixth position and pass all the top contenders in full flight and win handsomely. |
Al Safi led them into the straight with a handy lead at that. The fancied Al Naksh and TM Thunder Struck started to work their way up to challenge the leader. At the distance post, it looked anybody’s race as the trio were fiercely grappling for top honours. Al Majh’hoor started to accelerate and joined the bunch. He had a good momentum going and he easily galloped past them all to win with a measure of comfort. Stable mate Abhar fought his way along the rails to take the second place ahead of Al Safi.
“I knew we had a chance to win as the mile trip was a suitable distance for our horses. After our Europe campaign we had to run them in six and seven furlong races as there are not many mile and over races for three-year olds. To finish first and second was simply brilliant today. Though our horses had a rough passage throughout the race, it was great to beat some well performed horses. If you look at the previous winners of this race, there are many outstanding horses that have done very well in their career. I would expect the same from these two and to top it all it is a nice Christmas gift,” trainer Smart told the Gulf Times.
Alban de Mieulle trained Haifa (Amer-Djelmila) put up a gallant display to win the Qatar Local Bred Pure Arabian Derby for three-year-olds. The Umm Qarn bred filly and owned by HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani was up with the pace throughout and then capped it with a power-packed finish to land the prestigious race and pick up her first major victory. Italian saddle artist Pier Convertino was astride the winner.
“She is very nice filly and we are confident that she will mature into a nice horse. She had an outside draw and though she was pushed early, Haifa did well to beat some good horses,” trainer Mieulle said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Mishal bin Hamad al-Thani owned Momalorka staved off the late challenge of Fahirah to win the Group III Doha Thoroughbred Oaks, a terms race for three year olds fillies.
Jockey Avranche, who has partnered the youngster in all its three outings, had Momalorka in a handy third position as Lady Moonlight set the pace. Rounding the final turn Momalorka was urged strongly and the Ghazali trainee moved well to challenge the front runner. Umm Qarn’s Fahirah was also getting stronger on the outside and the duo went all out throughout the last 100 metres. Momalorka forged ahead in the dying moments to pull it off by half a length.
Sulaiti al-Sulaiti saddled Okay ably ridden by Dutch jockey Adrie de Vries earned a hard fought victory to claim the Doha Local Thoroughbred Oaks, posting her first victory on the Qatar race track. The maiden win here was not easy to come by and Okay was at his fighting best to carve out a narrow win over Aspire.
Debbie Mountain schooled Christmas Aria held on gamely to win the Thoroughbred Handicap for horses rated 60 to 80. Jockey Evert Pheiffer took Christmas Aria to the lead at start and came in to the final straight with an useful lead of over three lengths. Marcus Augustus started to bridge the gap inside the last 150 metres but the Mountain trainee was still kicking on. Pairumani Prince came flying from the rear as they neared the winning post to pip Marcus Augustus for the runner-up berth.
Haidara (Aouabed astride) justified the faith of his connections en-route to its first career win in the local Thoroughbred Maiden Plate. Haidara and Al Zubara came in to the straight first, hotly chased by Mutawassel. The Ghazali schooled Haidara surged ahead to take charge and Al Zubara also improved to challenge and the two were clear of the rest. The Ghazali trainee galloped well to head past Al Zubara in the last 150 metres and win impressively.
The combination of trainer Ghazali and jockey Gerald Avranche were on a high, scoring a double. Their wins came through Tajarub and Taigan. Jassim bin Ali al-Attiya owned Taigan broke through the maiden ranks in the Thoroughbred Maiden Plate in a close finish involving Brief Chat and Half Turn.
Sheikha Rowdha bint Mishal bin Hamad al-Thani owned Tajarub shed his maiden status with a fluent win in the Pure Arabian Maiden Plate, run over seven furlongs. Racing a close fourth till entering the final straight while Mhaiyedha Al Zaidy called the shots, Tajarub moved strongly around the horses in front and took charge inside the last furlong. Ashkal came up with a spirited challenge towards the finish but failed to collar the Avranche ridden Tajarub.
Ghazali good run continued with yet another victory in the Qatar Fillies Nursery Stakes, a 1,400 metres race for two-year olds. Frenchman Stephane Ladjadj took Captain Cleo on a successful start to finish mission. Though Captain Cleo was running out of reserves in the final stages of the race, the huge lead she had amassed held her in good stead as she was able to thwart the challenge of Charlie’s Wish, who came with threatening strides but found the winning post coming to the rescue of the winner.
Results:
1st race: Haidara (Yanis Aouabed) 1, Al Zubara 2, Mutawassal 3, Katara 4. Won by: 3 ½, 4, Nk. Time: 1:14.94. Trained by: Jassim al-Ghazali. Owned by: Mishal bin Ali al-Attiya
2nd race: Tajarub (Gerald Avranche) 1, Ashkal 2, AJS Admiral 3, Allegreto 4. Won by: 2, ½, 1 ¾. Time: 1:35.20. Trained by: Jassim al-Ghazali. Owned by: Sheikha Rowdha bint Mishal bin Hamad al-Thani
3rd race: Taigan (Gerald Avranche) 1, Brief Chat 2, Half Turn 3, Successful Year 4. Won by: Hd, ¾, ¾. Time: 1:56.89. Trained by: Jassim al-Ghazali. Owned by: Jassim bin Ali al-Attiya
4th race: Christmas Aria (Evert Pheiffer) 1, Pairumani Prince 2, Marcus Augustus 3, Hi Holy 4. Won by: ½, ½, Nk. Time: 1:54.07. Trained by: Debbie Mountain. Owned by: Abdullah Hassan Ali Abdulmalik
5th race: Captain Cleo (Stephane Ladjadj) 1, Charlie’s Wish 2, Gaazma 3, Marti’s Girl 4. Won by: 1. ½, 2. Time: 1:26.88. Trained by: Jassim al-Ghazali. Owned by: Khalifa bin Ali al-Attiya
6th race: Okay (Adrie de Vries) 1, Aspire 2, Venus 3, Al Ghariyah VI 4. Won by: ¾, 2 ½, 8. Time: 1:41.42. Trained by: Sulaiti al-Sulaiti. Owned by: Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sulaiti
7th race: Momalorka (Gerald Avranche) 1, Fahirah 2, Lady Moonlight 3, Mojave Desert 4. Won by: Nk, 3, Nk. Time: 2:05.26. Trained by: Jassim al-Ghazali. Owned by: Sheikh Mohammed bin Mishal bin Hamad al-Thani
8th race: Haifa (Pier Convertino) 1, Majd Al Uraiq 2, Kaydoum 3, Nahla 4. Won by: ½, 2 ½, 2 ½. Time: 1:46.88. Trained by: Alban de Mieulle. Owned by: Umm Qarn
9th race: Al Majh’hoor (Harry Bentley) 1, Abhar 2, Al Safi 3, TM Thunder Struck 4. Won by: 1 ½, Shd, Hd. Time: 1:47.57. Trained by: Julian Smart. Owned by: HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani