By Sam Turner -
The final meeting of the season at Jebel Ali this weekend may resemble a ‘duel in the sun’ as Michael Costa and B h u p a t Seemar go head head-to- head on a card which may go some way to deciding the trainer’s championship. Both stables are powerfully represented on the seven-race programme with home trainer Costa saddling 10 runners, while Seemar has declared 17, excluding possible reserves gaining a run.
The Listed Jebel Ali Stakes (sponsored by A.R.M. Holding) sees both handlers striving to land the lion’s share of AED500,000 in prize money as Costa relies on recent course scorer Alhzeem, the choice of No1 stable jockey Ben Coen, while Makfoul, third to his stablemate over C&D a fortnight ago, is again partnered by Johnnatan Castano Mateus. Although beaten 25 lengths by Military Law on Emirates Super Saturday, Franz Strauss is the preferred ride of Tadgh O’Shea who rode the five-year-old to finish runner-up to the progressive Swing Vote before chasing home World Cup aspirant Kabirkhan in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge in January.
King Ottoman (Pat Cosgrave) and Nevershow Weakness (Richard Mullen) complete a powerful Zabeel Stables trio, but UK handler Jamie Osborne has designs on the feature event himself with the highest-rated Sean who bids for a change of fortune this winter. “Sean has certainly been our unlucky horse of the Carnival,” said Osborne. “Just getting beaten a short head by Warren Point and then finishing third to Naval Power on his second start, when he really got an unlucky run. It has been a good Carnival for us, albeit it hasn’t quite worked out how I thought it might. I actually thought Ouzo might be our weak link and he has gone and run twice and won twice so that’s racing in a nutshell! It is good that we can run Sean at Jebel Ali and hopefully, he can gain some compensation for an unlucky season here on Saturday.”
CHROME LOOKING TO SHINE
Trainer Julio Olascoaga saddles Ajuste Fiscal in the Jebel Ali Stakes but may hold stronger claims in the AED 250,000 Jebel Ali Classic (sponsored by Shadwell), albeit Go Chrome Go has a point to prove following a bizarre run at Meydan on his Dubai debut.
The son of California Chrome, a multiple winner in South America, was virtually pulled up after proving unrideable in the Mahab Al Shimal on Emirates Super Saturday, a performance which left his trainer baffled. “We expected Go Chrome Go to run well in Meydan last time out, but to be honest I don’t know what happened there – I saw the replay 100 times in the stewards room, and I still couldn’t find out what happened to him. “He came back well from the race like nothing happened and that same Sunday he passed a stalls test which was required by the stewards. We were very disappointed at Meydan, but perhaps he took a bit of kickback early or the GPS on the saddle cloth affected him, but he never previously showed any signs that he was going to react like that. We took him to Jebel Ali during the week to gallop and it seemed like he liked the hill so hopefully he will run well.”
Laneqash, the choice of Tadgh O’Shea, and Morning (Richard Mullen) represent Zabeel Stables, while Costa saddles two with Kal Barg and the Coen-ridden Yonafis representing Jebel Ali Stables. The latter hasn’t enjoyed the best of draws of late in Group races at Meydan and Abu Dhabi but hasn’t been disgraced on either start behind Fort Payne and Nibras Passion and may find this assignment more to his liking.
FALCON LOOKING TO SWOOP
The Al Wasl Classic has attracted the Zabeel battalions with six declared by Seemar, including Falcon Of Arabia (O’Shea) who made such a taking impression when beating the talented Auto Bahn on debut at Meydan. His subsequent outing in the Al Bastakiya arguably came a little too early in his education and he may well bounce back, although Olascoaga, trainer of Auto Bahn, will be hoping to wreak some revenge with Quartier who is reported to have enjoyed a recent away day.
“We took Quartier to gallop at Jebel Ali on the same day we took Go Chrome Go and it was a pretty nice gallop there and I was happy with the way he went as he finished the gallop strongly that day,” revealed Olascoaga. “He has run well for much of the season and, although he was a little bit disappointing in the Al Bastakiya, he didn’t enjoy the kickback that day. “Saturday’s race is a pretty nice field, probably stronger than we expected, and we were hoping that he might get an invite for the UAE Derby but as the invite didn’t arrive, this race at Jebel Ali fits as it is the last three-year-old race of the season.” He added: “It looks like many trainers are searching for races to run in as the season closes and I think that is something important to look at for the future as it would be good to have more meetings in April and perhaps early May if the weather allows us to. That is something to consider for the future — there are plenty of horses fit and race ready, but the season is finishing. “I hope we can get one or two winners at Jebel Ali as it will boost the confidence ahead of the World Cup, although I hope we don’t get caught in the crossfire between Bhupat (Seemar) and Michael (Costa) as they look like they’re entering everything at their disposal to win the championship.”
TERRY AND TALE GO AGAIN
The card gets underway with the 0-90 Wathba Stallions Cup (sponsored by HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Racing Festival) over 1200m where AF Marmuq is sure to prove popular with his form behind Al Laith at Abu Dhabi taking a handsome boost at Meydan on Friday evening when his conqueror scored tidily in Group 2 company. Other events include a 0-100 sprint handicap in which Elusive Terry makes a swift return to action, the Jebel Ali Distaff over 1400m (sponsored by Al Shafar Investment) where Lahfaty and Le Faucon Maltais renew rivalry and the closing 1600m handicap (0-95) which sees another Seemar representative, Arabian Tale, striving to follow up a recent Meydan win.
There is certainly little to choose between Lahfaty and Le Faucon Maltais according to the winning margin of their first meeting over C&D at the start of the month, however the runner-up may well have been flattered to have finished so close that day. Ben Coen used up plenty of petrol shooting clear aboard Lahfaty at the foot of the hill and, while that move arguably ensured victory, it did little to advertise his filly’s superiority at the line. She moved so well during that race, that she ought to take all the beating in the rematch.
