UAE Racing Season Concludes In Style
The last race night of Dubai was complimented with near-perfect weather and an enthusiastic crowd. The highlight events of the evening were a pair of brand new AED 240,000 (about $65,000) conditions events—the Nad Al Sheba Classic over 2000m on turf and Meydan Mile over 1600m on dirt.
One of those aforementioned promising types put on an eye-opening display when Bouresly Racing Syndicate’s Ajwad went straight to the front in the Nad Al Sheba Classic and then fought off all comers en route to a neck tally over Group 1-placed Majestic Mambo (Adrie de Vries). Ridden to perfection by Bernardo Pinheiro, the son of Rock of Gibraltar was stretching out from 1600m to win the 2000m event in a swift time of 2:02.53. The effort came just two starts after finishing a respectable fifth to Blue Point in the Gr.3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint on Super Saturday. The win was his fifth from 29 starts and third in six weeks. Second Summer faltered after showing speed and Group 1/Grade 1 winners Yulong Prince and Logrado were disappointing.
The inaugural Meydan Mile was won by Thegreatcollection, under a brilliantly patient ride by Adrie de Vries, defeating stablemate Galvanize under Pat Dobbs and a hard-trying Rodaini. The final time was a smart 1:37.01 and the victory was his fifth lifetime from 17 starts. The final winning margin was 2¼ lengths for the 5-year-old gelded son of Saint Anddan.
The Al Tayer Motors Handicap was the final in a storied career for multiple Grade 1 winner Furia Cruzada, a multiple Dubai World Cup alumnus and local Group 2 winner. After a career that has seen her compete in Group company on three continents, she went out fighting to a fine second-place finish to promising 5-year-old Mudallel. Furia Cruzada finished up her career with a record of 7-6-7 from 40 starts.
The UAE racing season championships for owner, trainer, and jockey titles were also awarded on the last race meeting of the season, with said titles going to the same team that won the Group 1 US$1 million Dubai Kahayla Classic on Dubai World Cup night with AF Maher: owner Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda (total prize money earned this season AED 5,907,990), trainer Ernst Oertel (total prize money earned this season AED 5,708,790) and jockey Tadhg O’Shea who won prize money worth AED 7,112,468.
Credit: Emirates Racing Association