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| Rowan Anderson |
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A beautiful Sunday afternoon of racing in Meydan with the track hosting an eight race card highlighted by a Fawzi Nass and Adrie de Vries shared treble.
They also would take a second and a third from five runners on the card while Pat Dobbs teamed up with trainer Doug Watson to record another double for the partnership.
The hottest commodity for the night came in race four, the Emirates Airline conditional, when the Fawzi Nass trained Go Soldier Go with Adrie De Vries on board entered the race at odds of $1.40, the shortest odds for the entire meeting.
Six contested the 1900m trip, and the 3YO Tapiture colt showed he needed the distance to show his real ability.
His career debut in December was over the 1400m and saw him finish third before stepping up to the 1900m two starts later to finish second under De Vries.
Continuing to improve through each start he put on a clinic in this race to break his maiden impressively.
From the jump , Oasis Moon cleared out to lead well over Power Solution with the heavily-backed, favoured forced to sit fifth three horses deep. Passing horses de Vries brought the 3YO colt up to second with 600m left before crossing easily with the win as expected.
The meeting opened with the Emirates Skywards Maiden run over 1600m it was Salem bin Ghadayer’s 4YO gelding Made in Dubai who carried nearly all of the favouritism with nothing much else in the market ($1.60).
Previously with nine starts for four placings he had raced exclusively in the UAE for all starts with Mickael Barzalona retaining the ride after a second placing last start over the track and distance.
Mezzotinto got out perfectly from the gates to hit the lead and clear out by about two lengths with Great Deed chasing. The Bhupat Seemar trained 5YO would lead most of the journey being run down in the final 50m by the fast finishing favourite and Great Deed, the long shot going on to win by the slightest of margin.
Bernardo Pinheiro put in a great ride to get the Godolphin bred and Al Shemaili trained 4YO home at the right time in his career debut.
The second race, the Emirates Holidays maiden, run over the shorter 1400m saw a smaller field of four.
Shake Hand, a 3YO colt, came in as the highest rated hope (72) for owner-trainer Fawzi Nass while the favourite was Habooba, the Ahmad bin Harmash trained filly with Ray Dawson on board with her having two starts previously both resulting in fifth placings.
She led for most of the trip when with 400m left in the journey Almutawakel ambled up to eye her on the rail before Shake Hand let down drawing clear of the pair and putting it to bed.
“This looked a good opportunity on paper and the colt took full advantage, doing it well,” De Vries said.
Race three, the emirates.com handicap saw a field of 12 with some quality hopes to follow, the favourite was another Fawzi Nass trained starter in the 3YO colt Sharar.
Representing KHK Racing he lined up having raced exclusively in Meydan in all three career starts. He returned to the track after finishing second by two lengths over the shorter 1600m and went on to show the extra distance was needed winning well making it look easy.
Hoop Adrie de Vries got him out to sit third for most of the trip settled behind Jazirat and pace-setting leader Addicted to Chaos from the Doug Watson stable.
The pace quickened at the 700m mark as Jazirat came clear with Sharar tacking on and to break away from the pack and claim the win by three lengths.
“That was only his fourth start and just second on turf. He was very professional today and surprised me just how well he won,” the hoop said.
The win made it a race-to-race double for the Fawzi Nass and Adrie de Vries partnership.
A bumper 16-horse field covered the 1600m Arabian Adventures Handicap, race five, with the Bhupat Seemar-trained Poster Paint holding favouritism ahead of Manahir.
The 4YO favourite racing for Al Rashifd Stables was backing up after a second placing here last start with championship ladder-leading hoop Tadhg O’Shea retained for the ride.
Rashad Bouresley gelding Invincibly was the cleanest away breaking clear with Zhou Storm. Francois Herholdt dictated the speed on the leader around the bend 900m out until First Winter in the silks of Sultan Ali flashed home with 100m left in front of them spoiling the party.
Trained by Ahmad bin Harmash it was the gelded son of Dubawi’s first UAE win after eight attempts and the first time back in the winner’s circle since August 2020.
An impressive performance to take notice of from El Patriota out of the Julio Olascoaga stable with the Uruguayan gelding flashing home for a tight second under Jose Da Silva.
Another decent field of 12 laid it down fiercely in race six, the Emirates Airline Handicap worth AED $95,000.
Sari Dubai began as favourite backing up following a win last start trained by Doug Watson with Pat Dobbs retaining the ride.
On the top line of betting, money was also piled on Zucchini, the predicted favourite, prepared by Ahmad bin Harmash tilting for a third consecutive win.
He got out with a clear break to lead them into the race but it was not long before O’Shea on True Accolade and O’Neill on Turjomaan passed by to take over at the front with 1000m left to run.
At the 500m Zucchini peeled off the rails by Dawson was taken to the lead but Dobbs asked for his mount, the favourite to come from seventh to win over Kanood and Saqara King.
It was another tight win by the Creative Cause x Emma Spencer colt but he will be sure to be one to follow as the season progresses.
In the penultimate race, Emirates SkyCargo Handicap saw a field of 13 with the Elise Jeanne-trained Harvest Gold starting as favourite.
In the end, it was the 8YO Miqyaas with the victory for trainer Rashed Bouresly and the Bouresly Racing Syndicate ownership.
The gelded son of Oasis Dream made it two straight wins after winning by 0.5 lengths in Sharjah last December.
In the final race, the Emirates Airline saw a field of 12 and it was won by the partnership of Dobbs and Watson making it a double with the 6YO Exciting Days. The Blame x Whenthetimeisright gelding made it two career wins with his other coming in October 2021 at Jebel Ali.