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By Duane Fonseca -
Jebel Ali resident trainer Michael Costa will look to put further daylight between himself and the rest of his rivals on the UAE Trainers’ Championship leaderboard when racing returns to his backyard on Saturday. And one of the top chances on that sevenrace card for the Australian, who trains solely for Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the founder and patron of Jebel Ali Racecourse, is Mersaal, a horse cut out for a thunderous finish up the hill.
The five-year-old Ghostzapper gelding runs in the feature event of the afternoon, the Union Day Stakes, which is a handicap for runners rated 0-100 and will be contested over a mile (3:45pm). Going by his extending three length success on his last start, which also marked his seasonal bow in the feature event of the second meeting of the campaign here a fortnight ago, Mersaal will be a tough nut to crack with Costa’s first choice rider, the in-form Ben Coen taking over from Qaid Al Busaidi, who guided him on that occasion in the Mohaather Stakes sponsored by Shadwell.
This week’s feature event is also Shadwellsponsored and Mersaal will look to improve on his record at the course which currently reads three in six and includes a rather comfortable win over 2020 UAE Oaks heroine Down On Da Bayou, who was headed in the final 200m on that occasion. Mersaal looked the finished product on his first start and is bound to have come forward from that victory and should be the sharpest knife in the drawer for Costa all afternoon as he takes to the gates under the command of Coen.
There are no givens, however, and Costa won’t be taking the field lightly either with Ismail Mohammed’s horse-for-the-course Justice Protecol perhaps the one with the on-paper bragging rights courtesy of an even better record at the venue. Justice Protecol’s resume boasts three course and distance wins and one over an 1800m trip. Meaning, the gruelling climb will be no problem for the four-year-old Time Test colt, who will be partnered by Jose da Silva on his first start this term.
Another crying out for attention is Ahmad bin Harmash’s Delorean, who progressed after finishing the runner-up on his first start during the opening meeting of the season to land a course and distance handicap on the second meeting’s programme. Another by Time Test, the four-year-old gelding, Bin Harmash will be looking for another big one after claiming the co-feature during Sunday’s Sharjah meeting with Eastern World.
With Salem bin Ghadayer’s star rising, jockey Royston Ffrench will be hoping to add to his tally of three for the season aboard divisional heavyweight Tenbury Wells, a two-time track and trip winner, who marked his seasonal reappearance with a brilliant length and a half victory in a similar event here last term. And with the team just starting to find his feet nothing short of an honest effort will be expected from the six-year-old Medaglia d’Oro gelding. Webinar, well beaten by Justice Protecol over c&d, represents the firing yard of Bhupat Seemar and goes under champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea looking to improve on his close second behind Count Rostov four weeks ago at Abu Dhabi, while Chosen Mark and Ibra Attack, with three and two 1400m wins here respectively, fly the flag for Ahmed Al Shemaili, looking for his first win of the current campaign. The seven-race card gets underway with the 1971 Cup by Audi, a 1400m maiden for Purebred Arabians, (1:45pm) and is followed by six Thoroughbred contests, including the aforementioned feature, the Union Day Stakes.
Three handicaps, - The Ghaf Tree Stakes sponsored by Al Huzaifa (0-85, 1800m, 4:45pm), the 52nd Stakes sponsored by Bin Dasmal (0-75, 1600m, 16;15), the Seven Emirates Sprint Stakes (0-90, 1000m, 3:15pm) - and two maiden events, 2nd of December Stakes sponsored by Al Shafar (1400m, 2:15pm) and Year of Sustainability Stakes sponsored by CBD (1200m, 14:45) complete the programme.
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