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| Rowan Anderson |
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Antonio Fresu kicked off the seven race card at Al Ain on Saturday night in great fashion winning onboard Dherghaam in the opening race by four lengths.
The 4YO colt is trained by Musabbeh Al Mheiri with him looking fresh cracking the maiden on his second start after finishing ninth in his debut last month.
Thirty minutes later the trainer-jockey partnership would be victorious again ringing up race to race doubles as Fresu piloted home Branwell.
In the only race set for thoroughbreds on the card the 5YO gelded son of Dubawi won by 2.5 lengths for his first career win after his UAE debut in December 2021 in Jebel Ali.
These two wins making it 12 for the season so far for trainer Al Mheiri and solidifying his sixth spot currently on the trainers championship ladder.
The next two races, race three and four, saw another double achieved when Irish hoop Pat Cosgrove tasted back to back success.
Over 2000m in the Remah handicap worth AED $70,000 it was Cosgrove onboard Ozone Layer pipping Samurai Alzaman in a head bobber short head victory.
The Abdallah Al Hamadi trained 6YO relishes the track and distance having won twice and placed a further two times from six attempts at the track and trip.
In race four, the Falaj Hazza conditional race, Snan put four lengths of them in the end to make it a double for Cosgrove.
This was the 7YO Al Mamun Monlau x Nevada De Cardonne runner’s first win in the UAE after four attempts trained by Nisren Mahgoub. He had won his first two starts in 2020 but had not returned to the winners circle since then however had competed in Group company well finishing third in three consecutive Group Ones in that same year.
The doubles for Fresu and Cosgrove only further adding to their championship tally as the talented Italian sits second (27 wins) with Cosgrove sitting at eighth currently now with eleven wins.
Race six, the Shabyat Al Rawdah, was run over 1800m and worth AED $80,000 attracting a field of 15. Tadhg O’Shea victorious on Joe Star in the end showing why the silky Irish hoop is atop of the jockeys championship clear by ten wins and on the border of earning AED $3.5 million for the season so far.
The 4YO colt has shown great form lines having had four career starts for two wins and two placings, his three prior starts being in Group Company. Even more impressive from this victory was the fact it was the local debut for the son of Al Mourtajez as well as his first start on dirt.