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Major leads charge in Sharjah races

Sharjah - The weights are headed by Major, to be ridden by Royston Ffrench for Tony Manuel who has a good record with his runners at Sharjah.

 The Sharjah Racecourse will stage the third of six fixtures held throughout the season on Saturday afternoon with a six-race card, highlighted by a 2,000m handicap for which just seven have been declared.
The weights are headed by Major, to be ridden by Royston Ffrench for Tony Manuel who has a good record with his runners at Sharjah.
Winner of a 2,200m maiden on the Abu Dhabi turf in February, it remains his only career victory after 19 starts but he has run with credit on his two previous dirt outings, both times at Al Ain. Manuel is having his first runners this weekend from his new base at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club.
"Major seems in good form," said Manuel. "The trip should be ideal for his first start of the season and he has shown he can run well on dirt so we have to be hopeful." He faces no easy task conceding weight to the other six, including Rabdan, the mount of Tadhg O'Shea and now prepared by Eric Lemartinel, previously the trainer of Major.
He won twice, over 2,000m, on the Al Ain dirt surface, last season and has to be feared for his powerful connections but needs to show more than he did at Sharjah, over 1,700m, last week. "He will have improved for that outing," said O'Shea. "The extra 300m is in his favour and he should go well in a decent little race."
Doug Watson saddles both The Secret and Kokomo, split by the narrowest of margins over Saturday's course and distance two weeks ago.
It was the former and Dane O'Neill who gained the verdict for HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, nailing Kokomo and Pat Dobbs in the very last stride.
"They both ran really well two weeks ago," said Watson. "I was not sure who had won when they crossed the line and there should be very little between them again."
sports@khaleejtimes.com