For trainer Doug Watson and owners EERC (Emirates Entertainment Racing Club), 2016 could not have started much better. Meydan staged the first UAE race meeting of 2016 on Friday with a matinee meeting and Kilt Rock, owned by EERC and trained by Watson, landed the featured 1400m handicap.
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Given a textbook ride, considering a supposedly unfavourable wide draw, by Sam Hitchcott, Kilt Rock was soon out in front and, somehow, on the inside rail.
That has so often proved the winning formula since Meydan switched the domestic campaign to a dirt surface last season (the turf track is dedicated to the Carnival which starts next week).
With Hitchcott in the saddle, Kilt Rock was kicked clear at the top of the straight and never looked likely to be caught. Stable companion Dornoch, the choice of Pat Dobbs, was the only runner to really try and lay down a challenge but it never looked likely to be successful.
EERC representative, Justin Byrne, said. “We always wanted to try him here on the new dirt surface but finding the right race is never easy. He won here at Meydan on turf over 1200m and has won plenty at Jebel Ali on dirt over sprint trips but he also won in England over 1400m.
“Perhaps, as he gets older, this kind of trip will be better than the shorter, sprint ones.”
Dobbs may have picked wrong on this occasion but he was victorious in the EERC colours in the concluding 2200m handicap.
Sam Hitchcott talks about his win on Kilt Rock in the 2016 EGA Excellence Trophy https://t.co/RCAZluy4if
— Dubai Racing Club (@DRC_Meydan) January 1, 2016
Riding the Watson-trained Mizbah (winner of the first race of the season in each of the last two campaigns, both at Jebel Ali), Dobbs had to roust his mount in the very early stages to get to the front. Once there, however, they always looked to have matters under control and they actually broke the track record.
Byrne said: “He won well the first day and then we ran him back at Abu Dhabi and he disappointed. He has had a nice break since and maybe that is the key. We would like to think he is a Carnival horse so this can only help his chances of qualifying.”
Earlier on the card, in fact in the very first race of the year, Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby opened their seasonal accounts. Blue Creek was the horse in question, victorious in a 1600m maiden and, basically, the only winner on the card to not have raced prominently throughout.
Slowly away under Richard Mullen, he made exceptionally smooth progress just under halfway and always, then, looked the likely winner. Hitting the front 400m out, he soon had the race won and Appleby said: “I think this 1600m is as short a trip as he needs so we will have to sit and think about future plans.”
Mutahaddith was another to virtually make all the running, in his case a 1200m handicap with Tadhg O’Shea aboard for Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
Stormardal, ridden by Wayne Smith and trained by Ismail Mohammed, landed a 1600m handicap with the other race on the card, a 1400m handicap. He was ridden by Dane O’Neill for Musabah Al Muhairi and owner Sheikh Hamdan.
