Abu Dhabi: Sunday’s racing at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club was dominated by UAE Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea.
He won a treble including the featured 2200m Thoroughbred Handicap aboard Satish Seemar-trained Carbon Dating. O’Shea earlier rode the Eric Lemartinel-trained RB Rich Surprise to win the third race, where he came from behind and later claimed the fifth race on MH Tawag for Elise Jeanne.
The feature event was a competitive field with 14 going to post, including five saddled by Seemar.
The early pace was set by Resonant and Carbon Dating, who was settled in the middle of the pack only to surge ahead to victory 200m out.
“It is a great result for the owner, Jimmy Long and everyone concerned. In fairness to Jimmy, he thought the horse would win tonight. Carbon Dating had a wind operation over the summer and it has really helped him. He won this in style and hopefully he can go on and win again,” said an elated O’Shea.
The 1400m handicap was dominated by Al Asayl Stables and trainer Lemartinel landing both winner and runner-up. Gerald Avranche won the race comfortably aboard Eswarah and stable companion Al Jazi under O’Shea finished second one and three quarter lengths behind. This was Eswarah’s second career success on her ninth career start. Her first win had come over a year ago over 1200m on the Sharjah dirt when ridden by O’Shea.
Half an hour later, O’Shea won for Lemartinel on RB Rich Surprise owned by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. RB Rich Surprise was hardly challenged in that race and raced to victory 300m out.
“I could see Tadhg was happy a fair way out. This is a nice horse who is very versatile as his previous four wins were all on dirt and over shorter. He will probably go to Al Ain for his next start as he acts well there and there is a nice race for him early next month,” said an elated Lemartinel.
O’Shea’s other success of the evening came on MH Tawag for trainer Elise Jeanne in the 1600m conditions race Wathba Stud Farm Cup For Private Owners Only. Here, he had to battle it out to the finish with Djelila Al Mels ridden by Patrick Dobbs before seizing the lead inside the final 100m to win by a head.
The open race of the evening, the 1400m conditions race, Izz Bladi registered her maiden win in the fourth attempt for trainer Ibrahim Al Hadhrami. Ridden by Dobbs, she responded well and won the contest comfortably in the end. “She ran very well when third at Jebel Ali last week. “Hopefully, she is improving and can build on this win,” said a beaming Al Hadhrami. The last race over 1600m was won by Richard Mullen onboard colt AF Al Sajanjle.
