Doug Watson saddles two victors in three races in Sharjah

Peter Ward 20:14 05/12/2015
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  • Surging ahead: The Secret took the 1700m handicap in Sharjah.

    The Doug Watson bandwagon shows little sign of relenting and, after four Meydan winners on Thursday (when only represented in five races), he saddled a Sharjah double (from three races), on Saturday. 

    The featured 1700m handicap went the way of The Secret who made virtually every yard of the running under Dane O’Neill, an hour after stable companion, Kokomo, employed similar tactics under Pat Dobbs is a 2000m conditions race with the same result. 

    Retained by The Secret’s owner, Sheikh Hamdan, Dane O’Neill was winning for the third time this season on The Secret who has been a revelation having been a disappointing maiden prior to this upturn in performance.

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    O’Neill and The Secret actually denied Kokomo in the very last stride in a 2000m handicap on their penultimate starts before she finished a long way behind O’Neill’s mount over the same course and distance two weeks ago. 

    Watson said: “The horses have been running well all season and it has been a great few days. We knew both Kokomo and The Secret had good chances and they have obliged in style. Long may the good run continue.”

    Ernst Oertel was another trainer in double form, combining with Tadhg O’Shea to win a pair of 1200m maidens which opened the card. 

    First up was AF Ashras who made the perfect start to the afternoon for his connections before AF Thobor followed up with an easy win.

    O’Shea said: “Sharjah has been lucky for me in recent seasons and Ernst had both in perfect shape to win well.”

    Oertel added: “I have enjoyed a lot of success with Tadhg in the past and he gets on very well with the Purebred Arabians.”

    Erwan Charpy dominated the only Thoroughbred race, a 2000m handicap, with Tadmir and Gerald Avrance denying stable companion El Muqbil. 

    David Probert opened his UAE account at Meydan on Thursday and doubled the tally with the success of the Jaci Wickham-trained Inayat W’Rsan in a 1700m maiden.

    Meanwhile, Nacer Samiri has made a good start to his UAE training career and appears to hold all the aces in today’s Group 3 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Cup over 1600m.

    Eleven have been declared, including three to be saddled by Samiri and seemingly headed by Thakif, the mount of Wayne Smith.

    The pair were third in the Group 1 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (formerly National Day Cup), also over 1600m, at Abu Dhabi’s first meeting of the season and a repeat of that effort should be good enough to win this.

    Throw in the fact he won the National Day Cup at this meeting last year and, with the benefit of his comeback run, he is going to be hard to beat.

    And that is without taking into account the fact he receives weight from half of his 10  rivals, even though they are rated his inferior by the handicapper.

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