Jebel Ali Stakes, Jebel Ali Sprint headline Friday’s eight-race card
Amir Naqvi
A seasoned journalist covering major sports events around the world. Amir is Sports Editor with Gulf Today.
- 18 Feb 2020
The iconic Jebel Ali Racecourse will host its first-ever eight-race card – a quality meet – on Friday, highlighted by two of their biggest races of the season, 1950m Listed Jebel Ali Stakes and 1000m Listed Jebel Ali Sprint.
Last year, Montsarrat secured his place in UAE racing folklore by emulating Treble Jig in becoming the second dual winner of the Jebel Ali Stakes – a contest inaugurated in 1993.
Treble Jig, a true Jebel Ali legend who also landed two Jebel Ali Miles, won consecutive editions of both races in 2012 and 2013 and Montsarrat also defended his title in style.
A 6-year-old gelded son of Poet’s Voice has won both his visits to Jebel Ali.
Keeneland, the world’s largest thoroughbred auction house and host of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup, will on Friday add its name to the list of high-profile partners as they sponsor a race of the eight-race card. Both the Jebel Ali Stakes and Jebel Ali Sprint races carry an attractive purse of Dhs500,000 and Listed race status. Both the features are sponsored by Shadwell.
Keeneland are joined by Jebel Ali’s pillar partner, Shadwell, the breeding arm of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, Shadwell Farm, Emitrates NBD, Al Shafar Investment, Al Sahel Contracting and Commercial Bank of Dubai.
Mirza Al Sayegh, Director of the Office of Sheikh Hamdan, hailed Keeneland for joining the Jebel Ali.
“Friday will be a remarkable day at Jebel Ali Racecourse as they will host their first-ever eight-race card,” he said. “We welcome Keeneland on board. Sheikh Hamdan is a big supporter of Keeneland.”
Ed Prosser, Keeneland’s European Representative, said: “Jebel Ali is a fantastic racecourse which hosts extremely competitive racing.
“In our race on Friday 14 of the 17 entries were bred in America so it’s an appropriate race to be sponsoring,” Prosser added.
Engineer Shareef Al Halawani, Manager, Jebel Ali Racecourse, also thanked Keeneland for coming forward to support their racing.
