Dubai: Veteran UAE handler Dhruba Selvaratnam may have had to endure a slow start to the season, but things are starting to turn around for the master of Jebel Ali Stables who unleashed another potential sprint star at Meydan racecourse on Saturday.
Less than 48 hours after his United Color wowed onlookers when landing the feature at Thursday’s Dubai World Cup Carnival meeting, Roicead stormed to victory on the same track to announce himself as another prospective big-race hopeful.
With in-form jockey James Doyle in the saddle, the seven-year-old son of leading sire Giant’s Causeway delivered a dominant display to win the gulfnews.com 1,200m sprint on turf.
Roicead figured prominently in Selvaratnam’s shortlist of potential stars for the season and his two-and-a-quarter-length victory over defending champion Hattaash justified the faith his trainer has in his abilities, even though he was competing against much younger horses.
“We have always thought highly of him because he has the class and has been really working well,” said Selvaratnam, a champion trainer in the UAE during the early nineties.
“We were very confident going back up to the 1,200m trip after his last start over five and he was also dropping in class. It was a great run two weeks ago and we felt he would be hard to beat in this race.
“We have no definite plans for him but we’ll see how he comes out of this race and take stock. There are some nice sprint races during the season, so we’ll probably be looking at some of them for him in due course.”
Meanwhile, Doug Watson, another former UAE champion handler, went home all smiles after his Shadwell homebred Jawhar shattered the Meydan course record for 1,600m on turf en route to a breathtaking short-head victory over Oasis Dancer.
Former two-time British champion jockey Paul Hanagan was the man of the moment aboard the six-year-old son of Halling as he made every inch count when delivering his mount on the line to deny his stable companion, the mount of Watson’s retained rider Pat Dobbs.
Hanagan said: “That fast gallop really helped me as my horse stays further and I was happy to commit for home when I had the chance. We opened up an advantage and, luckily, just held on.”
The jockey was completing a double for himself and his employer Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, after partnering Mundahesh to a comfortable half-length victory in the Aquarius Handicap over 1,400m on the all-weather.
Hanagan said: “He won on his local debut over course and distance so conditions obviously suit him and we were always in a nice position, just off a decent early pace. He quickened nicely and kept on well.”
Rookie trainer Ahmad Bin Harmash bookended the meeting with a win in the opening 1,900m maiden with local debutant Exploratory and the closing 1,900m handicap with Ducab.
