PREVIEW / ABU DHABI adiyat racing plus.com 30 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 838 Thursday 21 st March 2024 By Duane Fonseca A pair of Classic affairs for Purebred Arabians share the spotlight on the penultimate night of racing in the UAE capital on Saturday, with AED110,000 each reserved for the Emirates Colts Classic and its corresponding Fillies event. Both carry Prestige status, are exclusively for UAE bred four-year-olds and will be contested over Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club’s 1600m strip, and with the ladies hitting the stalls first, our focus on this seven-race programme begins with the Emirates Fillies Classic, where the Irfan Ellahi-schooled JAP Eshraq definitely seems the one the one to stop for her fine seven length romp in the Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic in late January over the shorter 1400m circuit. Oscar Chavez, who guided her then, returns to the saddle after she ran dismally on her subsequent outing in a 1200m handicap here against stronger opposition, not because of her rider, but perhaps more because of being seemingly unsuited to shorter trips. It’s hard to see that defeat by a distance by Al Laith holding up here, despite her conqueror moving on to bigger and better things, including a dominant win in the Group 2 Mazrat Al Ruwayah at Meydan, where Heros De Lagarde finished second, the record spurring the latter to victory in last week’s PA G1 Emirates Championship. Easy Lap’s trainer Khalifa Al Neyadi will be hoping his trainee can benefit from apprentice Allaia Tiar’s allowance and make an impact here after her ninth in Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic, where Hathlla, trained by Ibrahim Al Hadhrami, was fifth. Easy Lap shed her maiden tag in a 1600m contest at Al Ain, but seems she might be out of her depth here, while Hathlla, who also runs, has made her spectacular 15 length win on debut seem like a fluke. Unplaced in three starts thereafter, and, moreover, comprehensively beaten, she trotted home 44 lengths behind the winner in a recent 1400m handicap at Al Ain. Qaiss Aboud-trained TS Arizona (Jules Mobian), the only other name in the field to have won before, claimed a 1000m maiden here by over two lengths two months ago, but was well beaten when stepped up marginally to the 1200m strip so it’s hard to say whether or not this will suit or whether the AF Albahar filly might find the distance too much for her liking. The Emirates Colts Classic seems fairly open with numerous making a case for themselves, including the top-weights Mubeed (Sandro Paiva) and LZ Bibi (Saif Al Balushi), rated 86 and 84 respectively, for having won twice each so far. The pair renew their rivalry here, each having accounted for the other once in the past: Mubeed exacting revenge for his Abu Dhabi Colts Classic defeat by LZ Bibi by beating him in the Al Ain Derby. And, while the Saeed Al Shamsi-trained LZ JAP Eshraq A PAIR OF CLASSICS AND A CLASSIC TITLE RACE IRFAN ELLAHISCHOOLED JAP ESHRAQ DEFINITELY SEEMS THE ONE THE ONE TO STOP FOR HER FINE SEVEN LENGTH ROMP IN THE ABU DHABI FILLIES CLASSIC IN LATE JANUARY OVER THE SHORTER 1400M CIRCUIT.
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