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Erwan Charpy eyes Versac PY win
Erwan Charpy hopes there is sufficient pace in the Kahayla Classic at Meydan on Saturday to deliver Versac PY into the home straight with a livewire chance of ending a frustrating sequence of runner-up finishes lately.
The seven-year-old has come home second in five of his last six outings, including in this race last year when jockey Paul Hanagan was edged out by Christophe Soumillon aboard Al Mamun Monlau by only a short head. Versac PY and Al Mamun Monlau will renew their rivalry here, but they may find the going a tad tougher this time around with the Majid Al Jahouri-trained duo of Rabbah De Carrere and Raaziq expected to make bold bids. Al Jahouri has four contenders in the field and Ernst Oertel three, which means two trainers have nearly half of the runners in this 16-strong field.
They thus could well hold sway in how this opening foray on the big day is run — a factor and prospective scenario not lost on Charpy.
“You have to worry about Majid Al Jahouri as he beat us in the two Al Maktoum Challenges and that’s because he’s very shrewd,” he said. “He’s organised those races to win. I wouldn’t say he organised them to get us beat, but — we were probably the danger — so he organised it and fair play to him as it worked perfectly twice.” When asked to comment on any perceived team tactics, which Charpy swiftly rebuffed were “not allowed in the UAE,” he commented: “Majid has got horses with quite a lot when it comes to a turn of foot, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them jumping, getting to the lead and then doing what they usually do — pulling the race to a crawl on the far side.
“I don’t know exactly what will be the tactics of Ernst Oertel, but I would say his filly (Shayel Aldhabi) needs a good pace. Hopefully, there will be enough of it.
“It’s going to be a very competitive race. This is probably one of the best Kahayla Classics we’ve had for a while.”
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