Lemartinel, Veron win final feature of year as Mujeeb clinches 2020 Abu Dhabi Championship
- Duane Fonseca
- Dec 21, 2020
- 2 min read
By Duane Fonseca
Abu Dhabi: Trainer Eric Lemartinel and jockey Fabrice Veron combined to land the PA Listed Abu Dhabi Championship, the feature event of the last race meeting of 2020 at Abu Dhabi Sunday night.
The pair triumphed with Mujeeb who ran home a commanding two and a quarter lengths ahead of Abdallah Al Hammadi’s Connor Beasley ridden Ottoman. Fifth in the 1400m Conditions HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup on Jewel Crown day at the same venue on 4 December, the 3yo Dahess colt rebounded to victory with momentum gained as a result of some hard work put in by Veron in the saddle.
Mujeeb took over from Shoja’A Muscat 300m out and ran on virtually unchallenged to win with Helal Alalawi’s Al Mansour a further length behind Ottoman in the hands of Tadhg O’Shea. Mujeeb’s success was the first of two for Veron on the seven race card, his second victory was achieved aboard the Rashed Bouresly schooled Shanaghai City in the 1600m handicap for Thoroughbreds, which was one of two races reserved for Thoroughbreds.
The other, a handicap over 1400m was won by Jaber Ramadhan’s Bernardo Pinheiro driven Nayslayer, who won ahead of stable companion Rebel Streak, the ride of Veron.
Ernst Oertel and O’Shea paired to win the 1600m Wathba Stallions Cup (Pvt. Owners) handicap with AF Majalis, while the other 1600m handicap saw Jean de Roualle and Adrie de Vries take a trip to the winners’ enclosure after Qader’s success.
The card got underway with a pair of maidens, the first of which was over 2200m and won by Alalawi’s Zalman with Pat Cosgrave up. Mohammed Daggash and Fernando Jara clinched the other over 1600m with Hisham Al Khalediah II finding his first career success on his third start.
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