By Duane Fonseca -
The second round of the Arabian Triple Crown went Oman’s way after Ahmed Al Balushi schooled RB Yas Man went from nearly last in the field to first under Amur Al Rasbi to win the Group 3 affair at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club on Thursday night.
The 2200m contest for four-year-olds witnessed the Sir Bani Yas colt avenge a defeat by Mohammed Daggash’s Diyaah, who had beaten him in the Listed First Leg of the series over 1600m at the same venue. Making full use of her fillies’ allowance, Diyaah threatened to make it two-in-two and threatened RB Yas Man in the straight. However, Al Rasbi, who endured a luckless ride in the first leg, had made sure to avoid the scenic route and the ground he saved helped conserve the energy needed to repel Diyaah (Sandro Paiva) by a neck. The pair were well clear of the rest with Kanaille De Faust, a further three and a quarter lengths adrift, when taking third for trainer Adil Mouchahi and jockey Oscar Chavez.
The win was the biggest scalp of the career for both Al Balushi and Al Rasbi.
Early on, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami and Connor Beasley became the first trainer-jockey combination to strike after AR Rawaa thwarted a charge from Ahmed Al Mehairbi’s HM Jazi (Oscar Chavez) to win the Maha 1400m maiden by a neck, before Musabbeh Al Mheiri nicked the subsequent 1400m Alanudd 0-65 handicap with RB Heads-Up putting his head down and rallying late to land the spoils under Omani apprentice Qais Al Busaidi, the pair a length and a half clear of Majed Al Jahoori’s Shuja (Bernardo Pinheiro) at the wire.
Champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea’s class was evident in the Damess (0-95) handicap as the Irishman used up all his tricks to get AF Rami to dig deep and erase a near four length deficit early in the straight and eventually hold on to a three quarter length success, which denied Al Busaidi a second-consecutive victory aboard Snan, trained by Saif Al Marar.
Trainer Adnan Mohammed gained a second winner of the season after ES Midwakh ran home the gallant winner of the 1600m Wathba Stallions Cup 0-75 handicap under veteran Adrie de Vries, who timed his ride to perfection aboard the lightly-raced seven-year-old Azzam Al Zobair entire and hit the front 100m from the finish the momentum carrying the pair to a length and a quarter success ahead of Khalifa Al Neyadi’s Hazem Al Wathba, the ride of Amur Al Rasbi.
AF Alzahi ran home gamely to win the 2200m Rabdan 0-70 handicap and bring up a double for himself, trainer Ernst Oertel and owner Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda, doing more than enough to hold off Dennis O’Brien’s Mizna (Richard Mullen) by a length and a quarter.
Keffaaf bolstered trainer Michael Costa's chances of a first ever UAE Championship by winning the only Thoroughbred contest on the card, the 2200m Rajai 0-90 handicap, by hitting the front 200m out and holding on comfortably to win by a half length from Ismail Mohammed’s Ahesta Bero, the ride of Pat Cosgrave.
