Salem bin Ghadayer clinches a double

Emirati handler Salem bin Ghadayer landed a double, including the feature race in the 13th meeting of the UAE horse racing season and the third at the Meydan Racecourse on Thursday night.

After warming up with a win with Important Mission, bin Ghadayer saddled Firnas to an unlikely victory in The Entisar Sponsored By Hamdan Bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal, the highlight of the evening.

In the race run on dirt and across 10 furlongs, the same distance as the Dubai World Cup, Firnas staved off the challenge from UAE Champion Trainer Satish Seemar’s Saltarin Dubai, to win by half length.

It swelled bin Ghadayer’s tally to seven wins and was Firnas’ fourth victory in 12 starts. Firnas was the mount of Xavier Ziani.

Firnas lands a second consecutive victory in the hands of Xavier Ziani after landing Race 5 in good style for @SalemGhadayer @DPWorldUAE #DPWorldUAE #MeydanRacing pic.twitter.com/n5DNzautCi

— Meydan Racing (@MeydanRacing) December 3, 2020

The fancied Pakistan Star, at 113, the highest horse in the field, finished a decent fourth on his UAE debut. This was the dual Group 1 winner’s first appearance on dirt, with the seven-year-old son of the blue-blooded Shamardal having previously raced in Hong Kong.

The Musabbeh Al Mheiri-trained Casey Jones was third behind Saltarin Dubai, the ride of Richard Mullen. Mullen had earlier guided Miller’s House to a whopping six-length victory in the Mina Rashid maiden, the opening race of the evening.

Kanood, conditioned by Fawzi Nass and ridden by Adrie de Vries, won the P & O Marinas maiden, with Seemar’s Bladesmith coming in second under eight-time UAE Champion Jocket Tadhg O’Shea.

The Ali Rashid Al Rayhi-trained Gervais pipped stablemate One Vision to land the Jebel Ali Port handicap, after which Important MIssion won The Garhoud Sprint Sponsored By DP World UAE Region.

Al Rayhi then notched his second win with Zhou Storm, the mount of Connor Beasley, clinching the Jafza conditions race, the last contest of the night.

james@khaleejtimes.com