RB Money Maker lands glory in UAE season opener

The 2023-24 Emirates Racing Season began at Al Ain on Saturday with Emirati conditioner Hamad Al Marar landing the feature event of the opening fixture with recent American acquisition RB Money Maker, with the riding plaudits on the card shared by the Brazilian pair of Bernardo Pinheiro and Sandro Paiva.

On the seven-race all-Purebred Arabian fixture, Al Marar scooped the lion’s share of the Dhs85,000 purse reserved for the Al Jimi, a 1000m conditions contest, in which top-weight and UAE debutante RB Money Maker flew with Connor Beasley in the saddle the moment the gates opened.

Beasley did only what was needed, keeping the four-year-old Nashwan Al Khalidiah alert all the way to the finish, which he secured with four-and-a-quarter lengths winning margin.

Finishing runner-up was Majed Al Jahoori’s Najm Al Wathba, the ride of Pinheiro, while in at third, a further three lengths behind, was the apprentice Marcelino Rodrigues-driven Maahir, also trained by Al Jahoori.

The card opened with Musabbeh Al Mheiri and Ryan Curatolo delivering the first blows as trainer and jockey respectively, the pair combining to strike in the Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners 1400m maiden (4yos) with Alhebi, who put a length and three fourths between himself and Rokberry (Ibrahim Al Hadhrami/Connor Beasley), changing gears in the straight after sitting off the pace set by AF Yatwa’ad. Ahazij was a head back in third for Abubakar Daud and Paiva.

Paiva claimed his first success in the subsequent 1400m Al Qattara maiden (3yos) aboard the Adil Mouchahi-trained Kanaille De Faust, who sneaked to the front along the rail when making the turn and kicked clear in the straight unchallenged to win by a commanding three-and-a-half lengths from Abdallah Al Hammadi’s Magic Touch, who closed in late with Beasley in the saddle.

Nibraas, for the combination of Eric Lemartinel and Jules Mobian, was a further four-and-a-quarter lengths back in third.

Irfan Ellahi and Jesus Rosales open their respective accounts in the Al Hili 1600m maiden (4yo+ UAE Bred) won by JAP Mehna by a sweet five-length margin with the winner making virtually all the running from Dennis O’Brien’s Aljamri, the ride of Sam Hitchcott. A further three-and-a-half-lengths adrift in third was Ernst Oertel’s AF Alhazem with UAE Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea in the saddle.

The Al Ain programme witnessed maiden after maiden play out and the fourth consecutive one of the evening, the Al Jahili over 1600m (4yo+), produced a fourth different winning pair, Al Jahoori and Pinheiro hitting the target with racecourse debutante Ayyash.

Pinheiro and Ayyash sat just behind the leaders and looked for room making the turn, with the rider cutting right and asking for a solid effort with a little over 400m left.

Five of the runners contested the lead, but Ayyash, a son of General, gained the advantage quickly and pulled away from the rest to finish two-and-three-quarters of a length clear of Al Hammadi’s Al Moatasem Al Balushi-guided Will Power. O’Shea was a length-and-a-half back in third yet again on AF Estatha, trained by Oertel.

Pinheiro claimed a quick double, having timed his ride to perfection aboard Ibrahim Al Hadhrami’s Taj Al Izz in the Al Masoudi (4yo+ 0-80), the first of two handicaps on the card.

Racing 1600m, Pinheiro and his mount found themselves towards the back of the field, well behind the lead even as another Al Hadhrami trainee Ares De Gion (Al Moatasem Al Balushi) hit the front early in the straight.

If Al Balushi thought he had wrapped things up he was proved very wrong as Pinheiro and Taj Al Izz came up with a swooping run from way back to lead in the final strides and win by a length and a quarter.