Prince Eiji crowned king of the Mile for Watson

By Duane Fonseca

A well calculated ride by Pat Dobbs aboard Prince Eiji carried Doug Watson to a third Dubai Creek Mile honour at Meydan Racecourse Thursday night.

The 6yo Dubawi gelding was keen early on in the Listed contest, but Dobbs reined him in, keeping him close to the pace set by the front running Danyah, the ride of Dane O’Neill. The heightened pace of the straight, however, forced Dobbs to make his move. Once Prince Eiji got the nudge, he stretched out fully, getting the better of the Danyah with a little over furlong left to run and finishing with a length and a quarter to spare. A further length and a half behind the Mussabeh Al Mheiri schooled Danyah was Atletico El Culano for trainer Julio Olascoaga and jockey Jose da Silva.

Prince Eiji was the second on the night for Watson and Dobbs, who landed the opening race on the card the ‘Abu Dhabi sponsored by Land Forces Command’, a 1200m maiden, with Colour Up, who swooped to the front along the outside and pulled clear comfortably to win by six and a quarter lengths from Bhupat Seemar’s Richard Mullen driven Mezzotinto.

Two maidens for juveniles followed in quick succession, Salem bin Ghadayer and Xavier Ziani combining to land the first ‘Dubai sponsored by Naval Forces Command’ over 1400m for fillies with Here We Are, a daughter of Super Saver filly one better on her second racecourse appearance, to win by two and a quarter lengths from Ismail Mohammed’s Home From Home ridden by Fernando Jara.

The subsequent 1200m contest for colts, the ‘Sharjah sponsored by Air Force and Air Defense Command’, saw UAE Champion Trainer and Jockey Bhupat Seemar and Tadhg O’Shea joining forces to win with Morning, who bolted in the straight to win by three and a quarter lengths from Ahmad bin Harmash’s Magic Petition driven by Ray Dawson.

The ‘Ajman sponsored by Presidential Guard Command’ 1200m handicap was won by Rashed Bouresly’s El Baareq, who only just managed to hold on to victory under Richard Mullen by a short head from Libyan Classic for Al Mheiri and Antonio Fresu.

Seemar and O’Shea completed a double in the ‘Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah sponsored by Joint Aviation Command’ 1600m rated conditions event with Bendoog a comfortable length and a half victor ahead of Quality Humor for Bin Harmash and Dawson, who were not denied of success on the night and saw Triple Venture win the card closing ‘Fujairah sponsored by Authority of National Service and Reserve’ 1400m handicap.