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| Staff Writer |
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On Friday night, Saffie Osborne made racing history in the United Arab Emirates by becoming the first female rider to win at Meydan Racecourse.
With a little bit of racing fortune on her side in the closing seconds of the 1800m Lord Glitters Handicap, the main event of a nine-race programme at Dubai's premier racing facility, which is entirely supported by Al Tayer Motors, the English rider made history with style.
Saffie was riding Ouzo, who had won the Lord North Handicap over course and distance for Jamie, the jockey's father, as he turned for home and found herself jammed in along the rail. The 21-year-old and her 8-year-old Charm Spirit gelding continued to work hard despite encountering obstacles during their straightening out and had to check back.
After setting the pace under Pat Dobbs, George Boughey's Naxos and his horse were the first to turn for home, leaving Saffie and her mount staring at several horses in front of them as they bided their time at the back of the 14-horse field.
Midway into the straight, Naxos and Highbank one of the three horses that winning trainer Charlie Appleby defeated last year—were directly in front of each other. However, as Naxos began to show signs of weakness and slanted to the right, a gap appeared immediately before the eventual victors.
Following that, the two were unstoppable as they quickly gained the lead and continued to accelerate until they finished with plenty of distance remaining. William Buick's stable companion and comrade, First Sight, finished third, just a head ahead of Richard Mullen's Highbank in second place.
"I've grown up watching people ride big winners here," Saffie said after the race.
"If you told me then that I'd be here riding a winner I wouldn't have believed you. It's something every jockey dreams of doing. It's absolutely epic."
Appleby's Beautiful Love, ridden by Buick, won the Defender 130 winner-restricted 1600m challenge for three years with remarkable ease, putting on one of the most outstanding performances of the evening.
The two were a little slow to start and trailed the field for the first part of the race, but after Buick timed his ride correctly and the worst of the weather passed, they looked like winners. Buick forced his mount to move forward and take a position mid-division, keeping up with the pace set by Andrew Slattery's Cabrit, driven by Bhupat Seemar.
While Buick and his buddy picked a path that allowed for a total power effort in the straight, Carbit appeared to move well. They also had a fantastic, unobstructed run the entire way. While Beautiful Love and Buick were three lengths down as they turned to head home, they made up ground fast, outpacing their opponents and winning by an incredible six lengths. Under Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass's Athan took second place, and Ahmad bin Harmash's Tohoku finished third under Connor Beasley, 2.5 litres behind Carbit, who was losing ground quickly. The field's only previous winners were the top three runners home.
Buick said: "She is still improving and I think she is a filly that could be seen in some nice company back in Europe."
The evening started with the lone Purebred Arabian race on the board, the 1200m maiden Defender X-Dynamic, where Majed Al Jahoori's Arkan Al Wathba won by a wide margin under Bernardo Pinheiro on his first career start.
Despite being one of the three to give weight to the others, the pair broke smoothly and advanced to push the pace in the drawn three. One of the lightest in the field, Khalifa Al Neyadi's Easy Lap (Allaia Tiar), leapt from barrier four and raced in their shadows. Turning home, Pinheiro and Arkan Al Wathba began to draw precise, but Easy Lap and Tiar discovered more. Their efforts were insufficient, though, as Pinheiro put his mount in high gear and forced the 5-year-old Thakif to give more. Ultimately, Easy Lap's only achievement was to cut the lead to 3.25l as Krist De Faust of Ibrahim Aseel finished third, four lengths behind Sandro Paiva.
Nyaar, the runner-up in three previous assignments, finally found the winning combination in the Defender 130 Outbound Edition 1600m maiden, which he claimed with a fantastic late kick under Pat Dobbs to win with 1.5l from Ezaj. Doug Watson and Pat Dobbs of Red Stables earned a quick double midway. Mezzotinto came in third and was behind by half a length more.
In the next Defender 110X 60-90 handicap over 1400m, Watson and Dobbs took second place on the night, with McManaman finishing a length ahead of Changing Colours and Andreas Vesalius 3.5l back in third.
After Lion's Mane stormed home in the straight to beat Military Option by a length and a quarter, Ahmad bin Harmash and Connor Beasley won the Defender 110 Country Edition 2200m dirt handicap (56-75). Ahesta Bero trailed in another half-length behind.
Owner-trainer Rashed Bouresly, who is based in Ras Al Khaimah, won the Defender 110 handicap (56–80) with Ashger Asser (Omar Salas) defeating colleague Shanaghai City (Oscar Chavez) by a head. Haasim finished third with Al Mheiri and Ben Coen.
After being denied earlier, Al Mheiri ended up finishing with a double after Asad Zabeel (Chavez) defeated his stable companion and Shadwell teammate Khanjar (Pinheiro) by a neck to win the Land Rover 80-100 handicap over 1400m (dirt). Imperial Empire, who attended Seemar, finished third under Mullen, 1.75l behind.
The next Defender 90 handicap (60-85) was Al Mheiri's second of the evening. The race that concluded the card was a 2000-meter turf event, and Qareeb, trained by Al Mheiri, proved successful, finishing under Mullen with three-quarters of a length to spare.
Law Of Nature (Al Mheiri/Coen) finished third, 1.25 litres behind Poster Paint, which came in second for Seemar and Sandro Paiva.