Three-year-old mounts take centre stage at Abu Dhabi Championship

Peter Ward 13:11 21/12/2014
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  • Hoping for success in Abu Dhabi: Qatar’s champion Jockey Harry Bentley (c) takes the ride on Boss Des Vialettes and he is optimistic the mount will deliver on Sunday.

    The three-year-old generation take pride of place at Abu Dhabi on Sunday with the featured Group 3 Abu Dhabi Championship, as well as both the Abu Dhabi Fillies’ and Colts Classics. All three contests are over 1,600m.

    The Abu Dhabi Championship has attracted a field of eight, of which only two are previous winners and three are seeing the racecourse for the first time.

    The Saifaldin Deeb-trained Boss Des Vialettes was well beaten on his sole start in France but made a good impression when winning on his local debut in a 1,400m Abu Dhabi maiden.

    Qatar’s champion jockey Harry Bentley is an interesting booking, and the young pilot said: “He at least has a win to his name and is proven on turf. Obviously, this is a better race than the maiden he won but Mr Deeb’s horses are running well.”

    Royston Ffrench partners the other previous winner, Ahmadani, who has the rare distinction of having ‘won’ two maidens for trainer Helal Al Alawi. His first ‘victory’ was later chalked off after testing positive for a prohibited substance but then made all on his second outing – both times over 1,200m on the dirt at Sharjah.

    Of the debutants, Newboy Du Paon, one of two runners for Eric Lemartinel, looks the most interesting.

    Fourteen are set to go to post for the Abu Dhabi Colts’ Classic, including five previous winners who all carry penalties as they seek second career victories. Of the quintet, trainer Jaber Bittar is responsible for three of them with Richard Mullen riding Sataar Al Reef, suggesting he is the main hope.

    Ffrench and Al Alawi again combine, this time with Al Shabab who beat Mullen’s mount in a 1,400m course maiden but was a long way behind the same rival last time.

    Only two of the 14 declared for the Abu Dhabi Fillies’ Classic have managed to get their head in front thus far and carry a penalty accordingly.

    Jose Santiago won a 1,400m course maiden on MH Kanz for Elise Jeanne five weeks ago and should appreciate the extra 200m.

    The Bittar/Mullen combination is represented by Munafisat Al Reef, a 1,200m Abu Dhabi winner but subsequently well beaten over 1,400m.

    Al Alawi’s Huyam, the mount of Ffrench, has been second on all three career outings, including behind MH Kanz and Munafisat Al Reef but receives weight from both on this occasion.

    The fixture concludes with a 1,400m handicap, the only Thoroughbred event on the card and 13 have been declared.

    Trainer Satish Seemar is responsible for four of them with stable jockey Mullen electing to ride Signs In The Sand.

    Sheikh Hamdan owns three of the runners and retained jockey Dane O’Neill has chosen Ghaamer, trained by Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

    Last week’s Jebel Ali winner Idler has to be respected on his first turf outing locally. Adrie De Vries rides for his main employer Ahmad bin Harmash.

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