Watson claims treble, Mystery Land takes feature in Jebel Ali opener

Racing returned to Jebel Ali on Friday afternoon for the second meeting of the new UAE season and the seven race card fixture was officially highlighted by a 1400m conditions race.

Only four went to post, but just one really mattered throughout the final 100m when Mystery Land and Pat Cosgrave surged clear to win stylishly.

Trained by Helal Al Alawi for Bandar Muwisan Al Otaibi, the Godolphin-bred 4-year-old gelded son of Sea The Stars was maintaining his unbeaten record having won a maiden, on debut, over this course and distance at the final meeting of last season.

Mystery Land is the only horse to have raced for the owner to date. Slowly away, as he was on debut, he raced in a share of last with hot favourite Moqtarreb who looked the likely winner when quickening to lead passing the 500m pole, but just 200m later he had no answer when Cosgrave asked his mount for maximum effort.

The meeting opened with a modest 1400m handicap and the ultra-consistent Guernsey doubled his career tally with a well-deserved success through a hard fought victory under Sam Hitchcott.

Trained by Doug Watson for Mohd Khalifa Al Basti, the 6-year-old Tapit gelding was a winner for Godolphin in America in November 2016. This was a first local victory after 15 previous attempts when he had finished second four times, including thrice earlier this year, and third a further three.

Rich And Famous looked set to lead from the outset when kicked clear at halfway by Royston Ffrench, but was unable to withstand the late challenge of Hitchcott’s determined mount.

Trainer and jockey were soon celebrating a double after Dark Thunder led close home to take the following 1200m maiden, this time for Lawrence Burke, Garey Goss and Peter Birbeck.

A 4-year-old gelded son of Alhebayeb, it was a tenth UAE outing for the winner after nine unsuccessful efforts in Britain when trained by Tom Dascombe. His previous efforts included finishing runner-up on six occasions, four locally. Settled nearer last than first, he was asked to close about halfway by Hitchcott who was content to wait for the final 200m before throwing down the decisive challenge to Kingdom Of Dubai. The latter had been in front for about 350m only to be denied close home.

Pat Dobbs then put his name on the scoresheet, completing a treble for Watson and double for Al Basti in a good quality 1400m handicap aboard Mystique Moon, winner of the equivalent race last year when chased home by Riflescope. The 2018 winner, High On Life, was fourth, denied third right on the line, this year. Always travelling well, the 6-year-old Shamardal gelding swept to the front inside the final 400m and, at least as a contest, the race was over.  The 1200m handicap looked competitive on paper, but Daltrey proved that to be a myth, rocketing clear fully 550m from home under a positive ride from Sando Paiva, powering up the hill to win comfortably for Ali Rashid Al Rayhi and Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Humaid Al Nuaimi.

Comfortable winners were somewhat a theme throughout the card and What A Metal was another in the 1000m maiden for 3-year-olds, probably never headed under Royston Ffrench for Salem Bin Ghadayer and Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai,.

A colt by Exceed And Excel having just his fifth start, What A Metal is, reportedly, named in honour of Heavy Metal who was such a great servant for connections and by the same sire.

The finale was by far the longest race on the card and the only one not contested solely on the straight track. A 1950m handicap, it too produced an easy winner for Ffrench, Ghadayer and Sheikh Hamdan with Fraseburgh proving far too good for his 11 rivals. Now a 10-year-old, the Shamardal gelding was recording a fifth career success and third for current connections since switching to the UAE.