Record-breaking Ghalib seals perfect weekend for Sheikh Mansour

Peter Ward 14:00 15/03/2014
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  • Rampant win: Ghalib stormed to victory in record time.

    Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s famous yellow and green silks were carried to victory in both of Al Ain’s main races yesterday afternoon, with apprentice Marc Monaghan aboard Ghalib to break the track record in the featured 1,800m contest.

    He is trained by Majed Al Jahouri, whereas Haajeb won the preceding 1,600m conditions race, with local apprentice Saeed Al Mazrooei in the saddle for trainer Yousef Al Bloushi.

    It was a great afternoon for the owner at the start of a weekend he will hope ends at Abu Dhabi tomorrow with victory in the Group 1 Emirates Championship – a race he won last year with Musharab, one of four in the race for him.

    However, before tomorrow’s action unfolds, Sharjah host their biggest meeting of the season this afternoon with the 1,900m Ruler of Sharjah Cup being the highlight. Only six have been declared for the Dh150,000 contest which looks at the mercy of Molahen Alham. 

    Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea rides for Champion Trainer Ernst Oertel on the HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan contender, who won the Abu Dhabi Colts’ Classic on his latest outing. He has won three of his six career starts, all on turf and, as long as he handles the dirt surface, he will be very hard to beat.

    O’Shea said: “I made all on him last time in a change of tactics and it worked well. Obviously, this is a new surface for him but we have to hope he will handle it.”

    The main support race is the Sharjah Marathon, at 2,700m the longest Purebred Arabian race in the UAE calendar, with a maximum field of 16 declared for this competi- tive handicap.

    Sheikh Mansour’s Laahaq won it last year for Al Jahouri and is back to defend his crown as one of four in the race for the owner, two stable companions of Laahaq and Rakes, trained by Eric Lemartinel.

    O’Shea and Oertel combine with Kalahari Desert, fourth in this last year and feared, while the Jaber Bittar-trained Dig Dagon, under Wayne Smith, is another to consider in an open contest.

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