Feature Story

Aggressive Nadelshiba lands the Al Ain Mile

Aggressive Nadelshiba lands the Al Ain Mile Mar 10, 2023

By Duane Fonseca

 

Antonio Fresu added intrigue to the UAE Champions Jockey title race with an Al Ain treble that saw him capture the PA Group 3 Al Ain Mile for UAE trainer Ahmed Al Shemaili aboard Nadelshiba.

Ridden prominently, but just short of the pace in the centre of a pack that raced across the breadth of the track, Nadelshiba, making his seventh start of the season, gained the ascendancy 800m out and held on comfortably despite Heros de Lagarde applying pressure to try and win the race for conditioner Ibrahim Al Hadhrami under Richard Mullen.

Nadelshiba proved unstoppable though with a length and three quarters the margin between him and runner-up Heros de Lagarde, who was a further half length ahead of Oss, trained by Abdallah Al Hammadi and guided by Fernando Jara.   

Fresu won back-to-back events earlier on starting with the card-opening Al Sarooj 2000m maiden for 4yo and older UAE bred horses, a race which saw Jean-Claude Pecout’s Marwan Al Wathba gain a first career success on his third start by going gate to wire, virtually unchallenged, to win by a massive eight lengths from Ahmed Al Mehairbi’s Mubhir Al Ain, who held on to second by a short head.

A little over half an hour later, Fresu was two in two having won the Al Maqam 2000m handicap with Taj Al Izz, a trainee from the yard of Omani handler Al Hadhrami, who found winning luck on his 10th racecourse appearance. Finishing second was one of the joint top-weights Qaisar for Salem Al Ketbi and Mullen.

Al Ketbi and Mullen would not be denied in the subsequent Al Basrah 2000m handicap, where Hakeem’s late flourish down the middle of the track saw him romp home by a length after taking full advantage of Tamari and ES Abu Mousa, who fought tooth and nail with each other in the final furlong, forgetting about the rest. Tamari, trained by Jean de Roualle and ridden by Dane O’Neill, was lucky to take second as Maador also closed in quickly, but was relegated to a neck by third under Fernando Jara.

The Shabyat Al Rawdah 1600m maiden saw Lu’Ay deliver a two and a half length success for trainer Majed Al Jahoori and jockey Bernardo Pinheiro, while AF Afham raced to a comfortable win in the Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners Series 1400m handicap for trainer Ernst Oertel and defending UAE Champion Jockey Tadhg O'Shea, who started the day 13 clear and ended it with the lead being cut by two with Irishman O’Shea on 56 and Fresu on 45.

The only Thoroughbred contest on the card, the Falaj Hazza 1000m sprint handicap won by John Hyde’s pacy Al Hadeer who delivered a sharp burst late on under jockey O'Neill to win by a half length from Ironside for Musabbeh Al Mheiri and Fresu.


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