Guineas delight for Dettori on Catstar
Frankie Dettori led virtually all the way to land the UAE 1000 Guineas at Nad Al Sheba yesterday in the familiar blue Godolphin colours.
The Saeed Bin Suroor-trained three-year-old went clear in the straight on the dirt track and comfortably held Clive Brittain’s Menhoubah, who was the only British challenger in the race.
The lightly-raced Catstar was trained by David Loder last season, when she finished second to crack filly Attraction in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Dettori rode a perfectly judged race yesterday, taking a clear lead after a furlong and kicking for home in the straight as his rivals toiled in vain.
Eddie Ahern gave vain chase on Menhoubah, who made up a lot of the deficit to close to within a length at the line, but she was never going to get there.
Both Catstar’s runs last year were over the minimum trip and she coped admirably with this step up, as well as the new surface, in the BBC World-sponsored race.
A delighted Dettori said: “She is a nice filly and has plenty of pace. I was surprised just how well she settled in front, and she has done it well.
“I knew I would be hard to peg back once I went clear. It is nice to get off the mark.”
The day’s other big race, the Al Fahidi Fort Stakes, also sponsored by BBC World, was a triumph for the new combination of trainer John Oxx and stable jockey Michael Kinane.
Kinane, on D’Anjou, and Pat Smullen, on Dermot Weld’s One More Round, were content to bide their time in rear and Kinane was stone last entering the short straight in the Group Three contest.
He tracked his fellow countryman through until forced to switch round a tiring rival, and then reeled in One More Round to win.
Kinane clearly likes this grass track, having landed his first UAE success on Thursday night.
The seven-year-old gelding was recording his sixth win and Barbara Facchino, of owners Barouche Stud, said: “That was a fantastic ride from Mick Kinane - the first time he has sat on the horse. The horse loves the sunshine and so do we. We are delighted to be here.”
Loder himself was on the scoresheet when Razkalla, in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed, was driven out by Jamie Spencer to take the concluding Al Seef International Rated Stakes, a 10-furlong handicap.
Always travelling well, Razkalla quickened away when a gap appeared to record his sixth win from 10 career starts.
UAE champion jockey Gary Hind is not going to surrender his crown without a fight and he partnered Kuwaiti trainer Rashid Bouresly’s Conceal to victory in the five-furlong Al Riqaa International Rated Stakes, holding off Macau challenger Lord Nelson.
Hind said: “To be honest I thought the trip might be on the sharp side, but I knew they would go very quickly and hoped they would come back to me.”
Stanley Chin attempted to make all on Mark Johnston’s West Country in the extended seven-furlong Al Muraqqabat Maiden, but the three-year-old faded to finish an honourable fourth behind the Willie Supple-ridden Mawwal.
