Rasbi rides RB Yas Man to glory in round two of Arabian Triple Crown

Gulf Today, Sports Reporter

RB Yas Man and Amur Al Rasbi gained atonement for their disastrous first round performance by winning Round Two of the Arabian Triple Crown at Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

A Group 3 affair for 4yo Purebred Arabians, the 2200m contest was the pick of the seven-race programme at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, with the Sir Bani Yas colt obliging for his Omani trainer-jockey combination of Ahmed Al Balushi and Rasbi.

Connections might have gone back to the drawing board after the first round as RB Yas Man endured a dreadful series of events when turning for home and straightening up, with Rasbi forced to take the widest possible route in a bid to lay down a challenge. Furthermore, Rasbi seemed to battle his mount then in a bid to keep him focused which might have seen RB Yas Man kind of retaliate from time to time and with real estate not in their favour they could only manage seventh.

But with peace made between rider and horse, and, moreover, a longer trip to work with, things were bound to be different. And they were!

RB Yas Man and Rasbi again found themselves at the back of the pack with the pace being set by Caram’bar, second behind Diyaah by 1.5lengths in the First Round. Mohammed Daggash’s filly, Diyaah plied her trade under Sandro Paiva alongside RB Yas Man.

Rounding the final bend, once Diyaah started to accelerate, RB Yas Man was asked to do the same. And as they turned for home with the gaps emerging, Rasbi gently led his mount on a trip saving path, while Diyaah traveled two-wide from him. Going all out, RB Yas Man hit the front easily, but was clearly not going to completely shake off Diyaah, who was making the 2kgs fillies’ allowance work in her favour. The pair set for home, battling each other until the end, but RB Yas Man was always going well and ran home gamely to win by a neck.

Adil Mouchahi’s Kanaille De Faust was a further 3.25l detached in third under Oscar Chavez.

The Damess 0-95 handicap over 1600m was next best of the Purebred Arabian contests and brought up the first part of a double for champion owner Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda, champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea and trainer Ernst Oertel.

Riding AF Rami, O’Shea tracked the pace set by Tariq, who had AF Yatwy to his outside for company. The pair entered the straight virtually level, and at least three lengths clear of AF Rami, who had received his orders 600m out and was up for the challenge. With the frontrunning pair starting to show signs of fatigue, AF Rami and O’Shea gained the ascendancy 100m out, but Snan and Kosmos De Faust came powering home down the centre of the track to threaten them all the way until the finish.

AF Rami though was able to hold on by three quarters of a length with Snan second for Saif Al Marar and Qais Al Busaidi, and Kosmos De Faust a further nose behind in third for Ibrahim Aseel and Adrie de Vries.

Another perfectly timed ride aboard AF Alzahi in the 2200m Rabdan 0-70 handicap helped O’Shea complete the brace. The winners hit the front early in the straight and held on comfortably to seize victory by a 1.25l from Dennis O’Brien’s Mizna, the ride of Richard Mullen, with De Vries a further three quarters behind aboard Idylik El Alhem, trained by Helal Alalawi.

Racing began with the 1400m Maha maiden won by AR Rawaa for Ibrahim Al Hadhrami and Connor Beasley by a neck from HM Jazi, trained by Ahmed Al Mehairbi and ridden by Chavez, with Howzan Baynounah a further 2.75l adrift in third for Saif Al Marar and Sandro Paiva.

RB Heads-Up won the Alanudd 1400m handicap (0-65) for Musabbeh Al Mheiri and apprentice Qais Al Busaidi, when putting his head down in the straight and determinedly thwarting the advances of Shuja (Majed Al Jahoori/Bernardo Pinheiro) by 1.5l. AF Yeheeb was a further neck back in third for Khalifa Al Neyadi and Allaia Tiar in a keenly-contested race.

Trainer Adnan Mohammed enjoyed success too, winning the Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners 0-75 handicap over 1600m with ES Midwakh, who was expertly guided along the rail to the front under a well-timed ride by De Vries. The 7yo Azzam Al Zobair entire won by 1.25l from Hazem Al Wathba (Al Neyadi/Al Rasbi), with Al Barq a further 1.25l behind in third for Ahmad Al Shamsi and Charlie Bennett.

Jebel Ali resident trainer Michael Costa gave his chances of winning a first ever UAE Trainers’ Championship a boost with Keffaaf, who dug deep under Ben Coen to keep Ismail Mohammed’s Ahesta Bero, the ride of Pat Cosgrave, at bay in the Rajai 0-90 handicap over 2200m. Keffaaf won by a half length and in a 2-3 for trainer Ismail Mohammed Desert Snake, placed third, a further short head adrift in the hands of De Vries.