Abu Dhabi: Eric Lemartinel is double handed in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 for Pure Arabians, the first race of the opening meeting of the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan Racecourse on Thursday.

The Asayl Stable trainer is enjoying a prolific season with 19 winners already, four behind leader Doug Watson, in the UAE trainer’s championship.

Darius Du Paon is the choice of Tadhq O’Shea from the two Lemartinel horses. The Irishman has opted to ride the five-year-old chestnut son of No Risk Al Maury over RB Torch on whom he had won the Group 2 Baniyas at Meydan track a month ago.

O’Shea is the stable jockey for the Grandstand Stables-trainer Ali Rashid Al Rayhi but gets to ride for Lemartinel in the race as Al Rayhi’s horse will be ridden by Jim Crowley, the retained jockey of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.

RB Torch has won both his starts this season and beaten Darius Du Paon by a length and-a-quarter when making their seasonal reappearance in Abu Dhabi on November 4.

Crowley’s horse Barnamaj is making his local debut and is expected to be the main challenge to Lemartinel’s duo.

The five-year-old chestnut has some good form in Europe where he has won a Conditions race and placed in a Group 1 and Group 2 in his last three starts.

Quick And Rich looks the pick of trainer Ernst Oertel’s two entries, the other being AF Marrah. The American bred eight-year-old chestnut son of TH Richie was seventh on his local debut in the euro 1.2 million Group 1 Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown, the world’s richest race for Purebred Arabians on November 10.

Ridden by the UAE champion jockey Richard Mullen, he should improve from that run on a more familiar dirt surface on which he has recorded seven wins and placed nine times in 27 career starts.

Trainer Doug Watson is also double handed with Bon Baiser De Faust and the recently acquired Paddy’s Day, who didn’t handle the turf in Abu Dhabi well in the last two years. However, the reigning Darley Champion Horse of the Year in the United States, is expected to run well on a familiar dirt on which he has won 22 times in USA.

“He is a nice horse and has been going well in the mornings but the draw, out wide in 13, was not what we hoped for,” said Watson on the eve of the race. A maximum of 16 runners will be vying for a slice of $60,000.