By Duane Fonseca

The good form of Emirati ladies on the endurance circuit continued at Abu Dhabi Sunday with Sharina Ahmad Alfalasi putting on a consistent show en route to victory in the CEN 120km National Day Cup at Boudheib International Endurance Village.

Riding Cerafino, an 11yo bay gelding trained by Shahid Khan for Al Maghaweer Stables, Alfalasi went through the four loop ride to emerge the victor with a time of four hours, five minutes and 47 seconds (4:05:47), having plied her trade at an average speed of 29.29kph.

The pair completed the ride 47 seconds quicker than the 4:06:34 clocked by Mansoor Khamis Al Shedi, who rode the F3 Stablesowned Amira. Ebraheim Ali Sabeel placed third aboard Al Wathba Stables’ Cha Shaham after holding sway over the first three loops and finishing with a time of 4:07:22.

Alfalasi had gained her previous career victory in the CEN 100km HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Festival Ladies Ride. There too, like in many other top events, she sat aboard Cerafino. The pair have had a long partnership and produced fruit yet again on the sands of Al Wathba on Sunday as they went from strength to strength, gradually improving until they took yet another title.

Ebraheim looked strong starting aboard Amira, trained by Khalifa Ghanim Al Marri for F3 Stables, and the pair took off, topping the charts at the end of the first loop spanning 40km. At the end of the first loop Alfalasi and Cerafino were placed seventh, a minute off the pace of 1:19:55 set by Ebraheim and Cha Shaham.

They would move up four spots during the 35km second loop, after which Ebraheim continued to rule the summit. Alfalasi had managed to climb up the rung but had moved further away in terms of timing with 0:1:25 now the difference from Ebraheim.

The latter continued his dominance during the third loop and maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard, but a slight upping of pace saw Alfalasi make sufficient ground in terms of time, the deficit now being cut to a mere 26 seconds even though her position in the standings remained unaltered.

Keeping to the parameters set for racing at Boudheib is tricky and instead of being able to go any faster, Ebraheim was forced to drop his speed, which opened the door for the rest of his rivals and subsequently led to him being relegated to third. Alfalasi on the other hand went through smoothly to take victory, with Al Shedi moving into third.