Jim Crowley, Britain’s champion jockey, rode his most valuable winner since replacing Paul Hanagan as the first rider to Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum when Ertijaal led throughout under top weight to win a valuable handicap at Meydan racecourse in Dubai on Thursday.
Crowley, who had already taken a race for pure-bred Arabians on the same card in the sheikh’s famous blue and white colours, was in front from the opening stride as Ertijaal exploded from the stalls and then tore down Meydan’s turf track on the way to a one-and-three-quarter-length success.
The six-year-old finished a close second in the Group One Al Quoz Sprint on World Cup night at Meydan in March, and while Thursday’s race was a handicap he was giving plenty of weight to useful opponents and seems sure to be a leading contender for this year’s renewal of the Al Quoz on 25 March.
“He’s got plenty of boot,” Crowley said. “He was very fast out of the stalls and I just got into a nice rhythm with him and let him flow. He stuck on nicely and he’ll improve a lot for the run, and he was giving away plenty of weight. He was like a raging bull, he was very well and it’s great to get two winners on the board.”
This year’s Al Quoz Sprint will return to a distance of six furlongs in March, having been staged over five since 2011, but Crowley is hopeful the exceptional speed Ertijaal showed over the minimum trip on Thursday will remain a potent weapon over an extra 200m.
“He’s got lots of speed but he’s won over six and he’s won over further,” Crowley said. “When he goes further he’ll probably find it a bit easier as well and there won’t be such competition for the lead. Wherever he goes, I’d want to be on him.”
Ali Al Rayhi, Ertijaal’s trainer, completed a double on the card when Le Bernardin took the feature event on the first card of the Dubai Carnival, round one of the Al Maktoum Challenge. The winner’s task was eased by poor showings from two fancied rivals, as Polar River, one of the top three-year-olds at last year’s Carnival, and Emotionless, a leading juvenile in Britain in 2015, disappointed. Polar River, who took the UAE 1,000 Guineas and Oaks before finishing second in the UAE Derby last season, was never travelling and trailed home in eighth place, while Emotionless, the Champagne Stakes winner at Doncaster in September 2015, struggled home in sixth.
Emotionless is dirt-bred on his dam’s side and hopes were high before Thursday’s race that a switch to the surface may rekindle the form that suggested he could be a Classic contender during his juvenile season. He was reluctant to face the kickback throughout and has failed to add to his Doncaster success in four attempts. Quite where Charlie Appleby will go with him from here remains to be seen.
Cheltenham racecourse has added another £190,000 to the prize money for the festival in March, with only the Foxhunter Chase set to be run for less than £50,000 over the four days. The novices’ chases have all received boosts to their prize funds, with the Arkle Trophy and RSA Chase raised to £175,000, while the JLT Novices’ Chase will be worth £150,000, an increase of £20,000. Total prize money at the festival will be £4,305,000, a record.
The National Hunt meetings scheduled for Wetherby and Ludlow on Friday are both subject to inspections at 8am owing to the threat of overnight frost, although Wetherby describes its inspection as “precautionary” with rain expected to arrive at the course on Friday morning.
