Bin Ghadayer, Al Rayhi celebrate UAE National Day with Meydan doubles
- Duane Fonseca
- Dec 3, 2020
- 2 min read
By Duane Fonseca
Dubai: Emirati handler Salem bin Ghadayer enjoyed a memorable night Thursday winning both feature events on Meydan’s six-race card.
Bin Ghadayer saddled Important Mission to victory in the Listed Garhoud Sprint over 1200m and inside an hour his joy was doubled after Firnas landed The Entisar, a Listed run over 2000m.
Ridden by Royston Ffrench, 6yo More Than Ready gelding Important Mission went from last to first in the seven runner 1200m contest. He was settled by Ffrench in the rear and got his orders to go full throttle 400m out. Picking up well, he gained ground and took over from Satish Seemar’s Pat Cosgrave ridden Behavioral Bias with 50m left to win by an increasing length and three fourths.
In third was Behavioral Bias’ stable companion and race favourite Bochart, who was ridden by Richard Mullen.
In The Entisar, Firnas, a 7yo gelded son of Dubawi, and Xavier Ziani continued to build on their brilliant partnership, with the pair claiming a third victory in four runs after triumphing in the 2000m contest.
Firnas went forward strongly keeping pace with Saltarin Dubai, ridden by Mullen. Halfway through, Ziani switched gears taking Firnas forward and once ahead he held on gamely despite the Seemar schooled Saltarin Dubai applying pressure.
Saltarin Dubai gave chase until the end, but it was to be Firnas’ night and he held on to win by a half length, with Musabbeh Al Mheiri’s Casey Jones a further four and three fourths of a length back in the hands of Antonio Fresu.
Race favourite Pakistan Star, trained by Doug Watson and ridden by Pat Dobbs, tackling dirt for the very first time in his long career, was fourth, a head behind Casey Jones.
Seemar and Mullen may have been denied twice, but they did score on the night when claiming the card opening 1600m maiden with Miller’s House, who romped to victory by a massive six lengths.
The other maiden was contested over a 2000m trip and won by Fawzi Nass’ Kanood with Adrie de Vries up. It was Nass’ first strike of the season and De Vries’ third.
The UAE is presently celebrating its 49th National Day weekend and it turned out to be a good night for Emirati schoolers, with Ali Rashid Al Rayhi following Bin Ghadayer’s lead and also managing to score twice.
First, he claimed a 1-2 in the 1600m handicap with the Sandro Paiva ridden Gervais, who managed to edge stable companion One Vision ridden by Connor Beasley, with Ismail Mohammed’s Dirilis Ertugrul ridden by Fabrice Veron a further length back in third.
Then, as Beasley determined he was not to be denied on the night, Al Rayhi claimed his second victory. It turned out to be a 1-3 for the Emirati conditioner and arrived in the card closing 2000m handicap.
Beasley delivered a peach of a ride aboard 2yo Due Diligence colt, Zhou Storm, the pair winning by two and a half lengths from Seemar’s Tadhg O’Shea ridden Shamran, with Al Rayhi’s Grand Dubai a neck back in third in the hands of Paiva. It was also a second career success for Zhou Storm in as many starts.
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