Sharp Army Guns for UAE Classics after Debut Success

The first meeting of the season is about unveiling some stars of the future and the opening event of the 2022/23 campaign at Meydan Racecourse may have done just that.

Sharp Army could bid for UAE Classic glory next year after overcoming the widest draw of all in 11 in the curtain raising two-year-old Arabian Adventures maiden, over 1200metres.

Ridden by Ray Dawson, the colt got trainer Ahmad Bin Harmash off the mark for the season and also gave his sire Sharp Azteca a first winner in the UAE when overcoming early pacesetter Nyaar by a length.

“You can probably ‘up’ the run a bit from that draw,” said Dawson, for whom it was a second winner of the campaign. “First time out, they have to know their job, so I’m delighted with that as he was very professional.”

Later on, former Uruguay Champion Jockey Jose Da Silva made his very first Meydan ride a winning one, when Upper Class charged home in the 1200metre Emirates.com Handicap. Unbeaten in South America before transferring to the UAE, the five-year-old has taken his time to get the hang of things but never looked like being beaten here, controlling the race and coming home seven and three-quarter lengths ahead of Nibraas.

“It was a brilliant performance, we’re very happy for this horse,” said Julio Olascoaga, Assistant to winning trainer Antonio Cintra. “Finally he’s showed us what he’s capable of here. This is the potential he showed back in Uruguay.”

Second in the opening maiden, Doug Watson went one better in the second race, saddling the first two home in the Emirates SkyCargo Handicap. Al Nayyir was making just his fourth start but took over when stablemate Qareeb folded and registered a smooth three-length success over Karnavaal, in the hands of Pat Cosgrave.

“Pat Dobbs said to me beforehand that it’s best to leave him alone in the gates as he can be a bit keen if you ask him to go early, so I just let him find his feet in the race,” said the Group 1-winning rider. “I thought they went quite hard up front. If anything, I probably got there a bit soon but once I was going, I had to keep going.

“He can only improve and they should have plenty of fun with him this year.”

There was a surprise in the Emirates Holidays Maiden, for three-year-olds and upwards over 1400metres, when Road Bloc gave trainer Osama Refai his first winner since taking out a licence.

A $220,000 yearling who was well-beaten on his only start in the US on turf, the Street Sense gelding clearly relished Meydan and was always holding second home Colour Up, in the hands of Antonio Fresu.

 “The owner, Sayed Hashish, rang me the other day and said: ‘believe me, this horse will give you a really nice feeling,’” said Fresu. “I know he only ran once before in the US and it’s hard to expect to win first time out, but he’d been training really well.

“He’s still a bit green and when he hit the front he was kind of waiting for some company, but when the others came on my inside he fought again and he kept finding.”

One of the evening’s most impressive winners was Western Symphony, who cruised home in the 1400metre Emirates Skywards Handicap.

Ridden by Tadhg O’Shea for Champion Trainer Bhupat Seemar, the four-year-old had been well-held on all four previous runs in the UAE but turned that form around for a convincing five and a half-length win over Tahdeed.

“He’s obviously improved for having a season here”, said ten-time UAE Champion Jockey O’Shea. “I rode him in a gallop here at Meydan last week and was very impressed when I got off him. He tried to stretch out in distance last year and it didn’t work for him.

“If anything he dragged me to the front there. I said to Bhupat and the team that he might even be able to come back in trip further. He’s all speed and he has a future.”

Western Symphony is owned by Al Rashid Racing and their distinctive gold silks were soon in the Winner’s Enclosure again when two of their string, Al Maroom and Pitcher’s Point, battled it out in the 1600metre Emirates Airline Handicap.

Once again it was O’Shea who was on the right one, as Pitcher’s Point opened his UAE account at the fourth attempt, gaining the verdict by a nose.

It was a double for Seemar and his stable jockey, who thought he’d been beaten.

“To be totally honest I thought Sandro’s [Paiva] filly had just got the bob but my fellow is very tough and neither first or second deserved to lose,” said O’Shea. Both went down fighting but thankfully the luck was with me tonight.”

Salem Bin Ghadayer has made a good start to the season and his Book Review enhanced his Dubai World Cup Carnival credentials with a facile win in the 2000metre Emirates Airline Handicap. The five-year-old is at his best when able to lead and did just that under Royston Ffrench, turning for home full of running and beating Twelthofneverland by five and three-quarter lengths.

Rated 90 going into this, HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s gelding will be set for a further rise in the weights, but jockey Royston Ffrench warned he’s best after a break.”

“It was his first run of the season but often that’s his best run of the season”, he said. “He can be hard to pass once he gets in front.”

Meydan Racecourse stages its second meeting of the season on Friday, November 18^th.