Warsaw: Shannon Queen won the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan — Nagroda Europy — Group three, while jockeys Hungarian Csenge Sutak and home favourite Ireneusz Wojcik won their respective races in the Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak World Championship Ladies and Apprentices races at the Sluzewiec racecourse in Warsaw, Poland on Sunday.
A small but quality field started in the 2,600-metre Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan — Nagroda Europy — Group three, one of the three races held under the umbrella of the Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.
Despite the rain a large crowd of racing fans were on hand as Shannon Queen ridden by Alexander Reznikov finished a little over a length ahead of Shahad Athbah under Sergey Vasyutov while just a head behind was Mogadiusz ridden by Szeczepan Mazur.
Shannon Queen took three minutes 22.4 seconds to win this covered Group three Shaikh Zayed Cup race.
Prior to this featured race of the Shaikh Mansoor Festival, female and apprentice jockeys from around the world made yet another bid to win and qualify for the November finals of the Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak World Championships.
The Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship race turned out to be the most exciting event of the meet as Sutak, 25, from Hungary, one of two professionals in the line-up, and the UK’s Joanna Mason, were involved in a close contest all the way to the wire.
Echaruna ridden by Sutak and Extremo under Mason made it a two-horse race as they left the remaining field far behind. Sutak on Echaruna hit the front first but was joined by Mason on Extremo midway through. For a short while Mason and Extremo forged ahead but the professional in Sutak saw the Hungarian fight back and after battling stride for stride, the latter pipped the Briton to win by half a length.
A further 15 lengths behind in third was the other professional in the field, Swiss Cheryl Schoch on Addis. The winner took 2.18.03 to cover the 1,800 metre distance.
The biggest cheers of the day came at the finish of the Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race run over 1,400 metres where Wojcik was cheered home by Polish fans as the 21-year-old won the seven-furlong contest on Salman Al Khalediah. They finished four lengths ahead of UK’s Jonathan Fisher on Jafeel Athbah, while Dirham under Germany’s Melina Ehm finished a further 10 lengths behind.
