Remorse lands Jebel Ali feature as Halawani welcomes return of fans

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

 
Tadhg O’Shea rode Remorse to victory in the feature 1600m handicap during the second Jebel Ali fixture of the new season, a seven-race card, on Friday as fans returned to the racecourse for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Around 7,000 fans flocked to the Jebel Ali Racecourse, which is renowned among crowds for its ‘garden party’ atmosphere.

The meeting was graced by Sheikh Maktoum Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who was welcomed by Engineer Shareef Al Halawani, manager Jebel Ali Racecourse.

Speaking to Gulf Today, Halawani said: “We are very happy with the return of fans to the racecourse. It’s like the spirit of Jebel Ali is back.

“The crowd back in the stands make the races more exciting. We greatly missed our fans in the past season. Hope Emirates Racing Authority allows us to accommodate more fans for the upcoming races. Increasing the capacity of fans solely depends on the decision of ERA.

Meanwhile, Tadhg O’Shea had not moved a muscle on Remorse who looked likely to win going away but Royston Ffrench was able to galvanise Tenbury Wells who fought back, forcing O’Shea to get serious with his mount.

Both jockeys found willing partners with Remorse always seemingly just doing enough in front to land the spoils for Satish Seemar and Al Rashid Stables.

A 4yo Dubawi gelding, he was posting a third career victory and second from just four starts for current connections.

A winner once for Godolphin and Andre Fabre in France, he also won a 2000m Meydan dirt handicap in the middle of three UAE outings for Seemar last season.

A lesser 1600m handicap followed, contested by a capacity field of 14 but very few were ever actively involved with Pat Dobbs trying to make every post a winning one on Torno Subito, stalked throughout by Final Rock.

The latter, under Adrie de Vries, was able to take over with less than 150m remaining, the pair pulling away to win comfortably for Rashed Bouresly and the Bouresly Racing Syndicate.

The first juvenile race of the new UAE season, a 1200m maiden for 2yo fillies, was won in tidy fashion by Little Afrodite, a first UAE winner for promising young jockey Ray Dawson, riding in the colours of Abdullah Menahi for Ahmad Bin Harmash, his main employer locally.