By Duane Fonseca
Two UAE appearances, two Group 1 wins, for two different trainers on two different surfaces a little over eight months apart. First Classs has built quite the legacy for himself. The horse that won the PA Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic at Meydan in late March, made a winning return to the UAE when running in the world’s most expensive turf affair, the Dh5 million PA Group 1 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown in the national capital of Abu Dhabi Sunday evening.
There was a lot to do and with a bit of good fortune Ronan Thomas and First Classs were able to conquer the arch enemy. They were running against 14 others, but Thomas’ thoughts were solely on Lady Princess and he wanted to buck the trend of defeats both he and his running partner had to endure at the hands of the the wondermare and her racing partner Jim Crowley.
They had been beaten twice before by the pair, but Thomas and First Classs weren’t going to let Lady Princess have them a third time. And with a bit of racing luck that saw Lady Princess get squeezed for room in the straight, Thomas was able to make sure he and First Classs signed off with a length to spare.
Lady Princess, way adrift when faced with traffic about 400m out, did well to finish a narrow second, while Abdallah Al Hammadi’s Hameem was a further three back in third under Dane O’Neill. When First Classs won the Dubai Kahayla Classic, he did so for Alban de Mieulle. At Abu Dhabi, he delivered success for Alban’s nephew Jean de Mieulle, to whose yard he had been transferred since his win at Meydan.
'HE WILL BE VERY COMPETITIVE'
And Jean was over the moon after Thomas and his stable star galloped home with the battling Lady Princess gaining on them with every stride. After his ‘Phew!’ moment, Jean was already thinking of First Classs’ future and said: “He will be very competitive in Europe next season, that’s for sure!” Jean then continued to wax lyrical.
“First Classs is getting better and better and is using his experience well. It’s like any other job, the more experience you have the better you get at it. He is such a great horse, he’s won in so many places now and I am so pleased for his connections and thankful for their support of me,” Jean said.
Paying tribute to his uncle for conditioning a genuine superstar, Jean added: “It was the first time here for him, but the horse has been trained by my uncle Alban in Qatar and he is the one that has done a great job on the horse. “After Meydan it was his first season in France for the European season.
He is such a big thing for me and my stable because we started training just three years ago. It’s such an honour to have a great horse like that.” Jean knew the pace of racing in the region would give First Classs an advantage. “First Classs’ first European season went well, but the pace is slightly slower than in the Gulf and we know that he is a champion when the pace is fast and he has space to show his big turn of foot.
So I was confident!” Jean added. “But when you have Lady Princess in the race, you’re always looking to run second on paper. Finally it comes down to running the races and we competed and got a good draw and won. The horse has now run in America and Saudi Arabia and won in both places, and won the Dubai Kahayla Classic too.
We have beaten Lady Princess and that is such a big thing for him. He is simply a champion horse. He is the complete horse!” Thomas paid respect to Lady Princess, but said the race panned out in favour of First Classs. “I didn’t want to follow the leader Soko because I thought maybe he was going too fast for us and 2200 for Purebred Arabians is quite a long distance,” Thomas said.
“First Classs was running after two months and we planned to wait until the right moment to make a move. He gave a lot on the track in trying to beat a true champion in Lady Princess for whom I have a lot of respect, but I am very proud of my horse for beating this filly.”
