By Sam Turner -
The Shadwell-owned Laasudood was denied a fitting win in the HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup at Sharjah when Street Mood swooped late to land the Thoroughbred feature under Bernardo Pinheiro.
All looked to be going to plan for Laasudood and rider Jim Crowley when the combination swept to the front turning for home in the famous Shadwell silks.
However, Pinheiro had other ideas and his mount, which had scraped paint on the inside rail throughout the 1700m feature, picked up and lengthened clear in great fashion from the 100m mark to give trainer Musabbeh Al Mheiri a third winner of the weekend following a Saturday double at Jebel Ali.
There is little doubt the winner, who prevailed by a length-and-a-half, relished stretching out to the 1700m distance and the only consolation for Bhupat Seemar, trainer of the runner-up, was that the Zabeel Stables-trained Al Nefud beat Street Mood by 19 lengths in the Dubai Creek Mile back in November, so the form took a handsome boost.
Quality Humour, ridden by Connor Beasley for Ahmad bin Harmash, was a further three-and-a-quarter lengths adrift in third.
LEMARTINEL AND MOBIAN ON THE SCORESHEET
It had been a barren season to date for trainer Eric Lemartinel and rider Jules Mobian, however that changed in an afternoon at Sharjah as the trainer/jockey combination recorded a welcome double.
Nibraas instigated the brace in the Sharjah Police Headquarters Handicap (0-75 1700m) when finding plenty close home to see off the Ibrahim Al Hadhrami-trained duo Hakeem Al Izz (Saif Al Balushi) and Ares De Gion (Connor Beasley) by half-a-length and two-and-three-quarter lengths respectively.
Lemartinel and Mobian didn’t need to wait long for their double either when Tahhan Al Wathba routed his field in the closing 1700m maiden in the colours of Al Wathba Racing who enjoyed a 1-2 courtesy of runner-up Murhib Al Wathba (Jean-Claude Pecout) who finished six lengths adrift with Ryan Curatolo on board. The Irfan Ellahi-trained Jap Afa’q was third under Jesus Rosales.
IDYLIK VICTORY FOR AL BUSAIDI
The meeting began with a smooth success for leading rider Connor Beasley who was seen to good effect aboard Saint Assalam for trainer Ibrahim Al Hadhrami in the 0-70 1200m handicap for Purebred Arabians.
The partnership came steadily clear from halfway to score by three-and-three-quarter lengths from the Ernst Oertel-trained AF Al Ahkaf (Tadgh O’Shea, while Jap Al Afreet (Irfan Ellahi/Richard Mullen) was a further length-and-three-quarters back in third.
There was compensation for the Oertel/ O’Shea combination when the Irish rider made all of the running in the Al-Bataeh Municipality maiden (2000m) aboard nine-race maiden AF Al Badee.
O’Shea measured the pace to perfection aboard his eight-year-old mount and the duo always held plenty in reserve to fight off Richard Mullen aboard Mutamasik (Dennis O’Brien) in the straight for a four-and-a-quarter length verdict.
There was huge gap of 15l back to the third ridden by Bernardo Pinheiro for trainer Jaber Bittar.
The finish of the day was reserved for the Sharjah Sports 0-65 Handicap (2000m) which featured a titanic stretch tussle between the Qais Al Busaidi-ridden Idylik El Alhem and Inato De Carrere and Pinheiro.
Having not won in 20 starts, some may have thought Idylik El Alhem may be vulnerable in a finish, but the Helal Alalawi trainee dug deep where it mattered to score by a neck as the two main protagonists pulled 12 lengths clear of Salla Al Reef (Saqib Shaikh) in third under Japanese rider Daisuke Fukamoto who was riding for the first time in the UAE.
