Lanadam hopes to end the 2015 season on a high in Al Ain

Peter Ward 10:21 26/12/2015
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  • Managing expectation: Chris Hayes.

    Al Ain stage the final UAE race meeting of 2015 this evening with a competitive looking seven-race card kicking off at 17:00 and including just one Thoroughbred contest, a 1600m handicap.

    Fourteen have been declared, including Lanadam, an ultra impressive 1400m Jebel Ali winner at the opening fixture of the current campaign at the end of October.

    Trained by Dhruba Selvaratnam and the mount of Chris Hayes, Lanadam has just that one win, but this looks a weaker race than the two most recent he has contested.

    Hayes said: “He was impressive the first day and has run OK twice since. Hopefully, the step up to 1600m will suit him and he can at least be competitive.”

    Trained by Doug Watson, Mukhabarat, won easily on his penultimate start, over 1700m at Sharjah and should appreciate the shorter trip here having perhaps failed to stay 2000m last time.

    That too was at Sharjah and this will be his first look at Al Ain but, with the Watson team remaining in good form, he looks a big danger to all under Sam Hitchcott.

    Watson said: “We hope conditions will suit him and he can produce another good effort in what appears a competitive heat.” 

    Another trainer who has been saddling plenty of winners is Ali Rashid Al Raihe whose representatives, Mutual Force and Qannaas, have the assistance of Tadhg O’Shea and Paul Hanagan respectively.

    The Musabah Al Muhairi-trained pair of Enery and Modern History both have to concede weight to the other 12 but should go well with Fernando Jara on the former and George Buckell aboard the latter.

    The official feature is a Purebred Arabian handicap over 2600m and the first round of the Al Ain Marathon Series with 15 set to face the starter.

    Stamina is going to be a key issue obviously with most of these trying such a staying trip for the first time but that does not apply to Zaffaan.

    Trained by Musabah Al Muhairi for Sheikh Hamdan, he won the Sharjah Marathon in March, over 2700m and must go close under Paul Hanagan having also been second in this contest 12 months ago.

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