By Duane Fonseca
Fernando Jara put his years of experience in the saddle to good use Friday evening when winning one of the co-feature events on Al Ain’s National Day card for Abdallah Al Hammadi and Al Ajban Stables.
Riding Oxford in the Al Masoudi 1800m conditions event on the all-Purebred Arabian card, Panamanian Jara found himself at the rear of the field and battling hard to get into contention even after turning for home. He was farthest outside getting into the straight, but Jara wasn’t going to give up and rode his heart out with the 5yo son of Valiant Boy responding well to the nudges and eating ground quickly to lead 50m from the finish.
RB Frynchh Dude was a neck back in second for trainer Helal Alalawi and jockey Abdulaziz Al Balushi, with Heros De Lagarde a further four behind in third for Ibrahim Al Hadhrami and Ray Dawson.
The other big money event the Al Qattara 2000m conditions run followed immediately and Al Hadhrami was compensated therein with Saif Al Balushi riding home aboard Salb first, a length and quarter clear of Smoke N Thunder.
The third and last of the feature events on the card, the Al Hili was contested as a 1000m sprint and won by Marmara XM, who won the battle of the bobbing heads with Leena bringing trainer Abdelaziz Daoud and jockey Sandro Paiva, a second winner on the card after the pair’s success earlier on the card.
The seven-race card opened with Abdelaziz Daoud and Sandro Paiva scoring in the Zakhir 1400m maiden with Mascotte Al Maury, who won by six lengths, while JI Ed Faust raced away with the 1600m Al Jimi maiden for Ahmed Al Mehairbi and Jara, which was the Panamanain’s first triumph.
The only handicap on the card was the Al Jahili that was run over 1600m and won by Al Hadhrami’s, Ray Dawson driven SS IZZ Dubai, who ran home with two and a quarter to spare.
The Wathba Stallions Cup 1000m maiden for Private Owners was won by Murafiq Al Khalediah for Khalifa Al Neyadi and Antonio Fresu.
