By Duane Fonseca
Osama Refai’s Road Bloc made racing history at Jebel Ali Racecourse during its final meeting of the season Saturday afternoon, adding the second leg of the inaugural Emirates Sprint Series to the first leg he won at Sharjah in January.
That meant, the Dh250,000 bonus that was guaranteed for the winner of both legs, over and above the lion’s share of the massive Dh500,000 prize purse of the race, went to Sayed Hashish and Hana Refai, owners of the 5yo Street Sense gelding, who won the first leg, which had been contested at Sharjah over a 1200m trip in the form of the Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup.
Road Bloc was the only eligible one for the reward from among the baker’s dozen that went to post and that raised the stakes as they went hard to stop him in the second leg, the Listed Jebel Ali Sprint over 1000m. Ridden by Oscar Chavez, who guided him in the first leg as well, Road Bloc was kept just off the pace and asked to go with a little under half of the trip left. He took up the running 250m out and steadily built up a length and three fourth winning margin with Story of Light second for Ahmad bin Harmash and Ray Dawson. A further three fourths back in third was Meshakel for Salem bin Ghadayer and Xavier Ziani.
The card opened with the Maiden Over A Mile Cup, an innocuously self-explained event, at the end of which Jean van Overmeire might have kicked himself for not showing urgency aboard Margham, trained by Bin Ghadayer for Jebel Ali Racecourse patron Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who was passed close to home by Bhupat Seemar’s racecourse debutant Ghazzwaan guided by defending UAE Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea.
Seemar and O’Shea failed to make it two in two a race later in the Al Shafar Investment Cup 1600m handicap, where they met their match in Ismail Mohammed’s 4yo Time Test colt Justice Protecol, who seems to love the uphill finish here and claimed his fourth mile event on the surface this term having raced freely in the hands of Fernando Jara, the Panamanian rider keeping him alert all the way until he secured a three and a half length success ahead of Secret Image (Seemar/O’Shea).
Van Overmeire atoned for his earlier miss by winning the Bin Dasmal Cup 1200m maiden for the ‘home team’ of Sheikh Ahmed aboard Jebel Ali resident conditioner Michael Costa’s Thawban, who came up with a sweeping finish to sideline Mezzotinto, Seemar and O’Shea denied yet again as connections of the runner-up.
Ahmad bin Harmash’s Hunting Lady dominated the rest of her female rivals in the Al Nayfat Stakes 1400m conditions event for fillies, which she won by a massive nine and a quarter lengths from Doug Watson’s Asawer, the ride of Sam Hitchcott, while Seemar’s 2021 Group 2 Godolphin Mile champion Secret Ambition is probably now the oldest horse to win the Jebel Ali Classic, the 10yo Exceed And Excel entire gaining the ascendancy under Richard Mullen with a little under 200 of the 1400m left to run and holding off Bin Harmash’s Dawson-piloted Tamborrada by a head.
Doug Watson and Pat Dobbs cashed in in Jebel Ali’s season-ending race, the Tattersalls Cup 1950m handicap with National Bank, who showed great determination to poke in ahead of Attribution and win by a neck after a tough battle up the straight.
