After a quiet and understated opening last weekend at Jebel Ali, the new racing season steps up a gear with three meetings, beginning with a return to the UAE’s flagship racecourse Meydan Thursday evening.
Fresh from a Jebel Ali double last Friday, American trainer Doug Watson is particularly well represented throughout the card, especially in the featured 2000m handicap in which he saddles three of the nine runners.
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Stable jockey Pat Dobbs rides Zain Eagle with his first start for the yard having represented Robert Cowell from England in his one Meydan outing last season.
Zain Eagle was well beaten on that occasion but has been pleasing his new trainer over the summer.
Watson said: “He seems to handle the dirt really well at home in the mornings so it will be interesting to see how he gets on in a race.
“It is not a big field which should help him and we are looking forward to running him as he is in good form.”
The other two yard representatives are both owned by Sheikh Hamdan whose retained jockey Dane O’Neill elects to ride Jeeraan, leaving Sam Hitchcott to ride stable companion Etijaah.
O’Neill said: “Both are proven on the course and should go well. The weights suit Jeeraan slightly better and I am hoping for a big run and the yard have started well.”
O’Neill could also have ridden the same owner’s Zamaam, trained by Erwan Charpy and the mount of Wayne Smith. The jockey rode a winner for the same owner/trainer combination last week and hopes to repeat the trick.
He said: “That was Erwan’s only runner last week so you have to say the yard is in form. Erwan really likes this horse who was unlucky on his only UAE start to date at Abu Dhabi. He has not raced on dirt but works well on it so we have to be hopeful.”
The Satish Seemar-trained Cross Grain made a winning racecourse debut in the 1400m maiden on this card last year and 12 months later takes his chance in a handicap over the same course and distance. He only ran twice subsequently and Champion Jockey Richard Mullen, who has ridden him on all three starts, maintains the partnership.
Mullen said: “He won well last year but did not perhaps go on as we would have hoped. He seems in great form and can hopefully build on last year as he is lightly raced and hopefully open to improvement.”
Fifth in the maiden behind Cross Grain last year was the Watson-trained One Man Band, subsequently a 1900m maiden winner before scoring twice over 1600m, all three wins on the Meydan dirt.
He faces 10 rivals in a 1600m handicap including Street Act, a winner over 1400m on this card last year when he had the advantage of a run having finished second at Jebel Ali the previous Friday.
He filled the same berth in the same race at Jebel Ali last week so trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe will be hoping lightening can strike twice.
Stable jockey Tadhg O’Shea, takes the ride.
The action the moves on to Sharjah on Saturday before Abu Dhabi hosts the world’s most valuable Purebred Arabian horse race, the €1.2million Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown, on Sunday.
