Al Asayl trainer Salem Al Ketbi appears to hold all the aces in the Purebred Arabian features in Abu Dhabi today, with Abhaar favoured in the Emirates Colts’ Classic.
The mount of Tadhg O’Shea has won his previous starts, including when landing the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Gold Cup, over the same 1,600m course and distance as this race.
O’Shea said: “He is a really nice young horse and one we have very high hopes for. He has done everything we asked of him so far and, hopefully, can win again.”
The official feature is the 2,200m Group 3 second round of the Arabian Triple Crown, in which Al Ketbi saddles three.
O’Shea has chosen Shaheer, who made a wining local debut in a 1,600m maiden and is the only one of the Al Ketbi contenders to have run in the UAE after they arrived from France.
O’Shea said: “We have three nice runners in the race but Shaheer has the advantage and local experience over the other pair.”
Adrie De Vries rides stable companion Arwaah, a Group 2 winner in her native France but penalised for that big race win and making her local debut having not raced since early October.
The stable’s third runner, Namrood, the mount of Shane Karlsson, has also been off since October and landed one of his three races in France.
If the Al Asayl trio do fail to fire, the Musabah Al Muhairi-trained Love To Dance could be the one to benefit under apprentice George Buckell.
However, like Arwaah, she is penalised – in her case for landing a Grade Three contest in her native USA on her penultimate start.
The only Thoroughbred race on the contest is the 2,200m Emirates Championship Trial.
With Sheikh Hamdan responsible for three of the runners, it looks significant that jockey Paul Hanagan chooses to ride Full Combat – trained by South African Mike De Kock.
Dane O’Neill, also retained by the owner, chooses the Ali Rashid Al Raihe-trained Derbaas over stable companion and the owner’s third runner, Yaseer, to be ridden by apprentice Saeed Al Mazrouei.
Al Raihe also saddles Ukrainian, who will have to concede weight to all his rivals under stable jockey Royston Ffrench if he is to land the spoils.
