DUBAI JAN 20 - FIRST CITY SCORES THRILLING FEATURE WIN IN CAPE VERDI ON UAE DEBUT

By Dubai Racing Club | Friday, January 20, 2012

First City, making her UAE debut and first start for local champion trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe, secured a thrilling victory in the Group Two Cape Verdi Sponsored By The Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group, the 1600m turf feature of the fourth meeting of the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival.

The Cape Verdi, restricted to fillies and mares, produced the best finish of the night with Royston Ffrench producing First City to lead in the last strides and deny Pick Six favourite Mahbooba.

Ffrench said: "We were hoping for a big run as she was going nicely at home in the mornings and her form in Europe was very good. She has finished very strongly to get there in the last strides and I was not sure we had won when we flashed past. It is great that we did and I assume we will probably come back for the Balanchine Stakes and take it from there."

Emirati trainer Ali Raihe added: "We will look at the Dubai Duty Free on (Dubai) World Cup night long term, perhaps after the Balanchine and Super Saturday."

Mike de Kock may have been out of luck with Mahbooba but had earlier saddled Mutahadee to an impressive victory in the 1800m turf Swaidan Trading Company Peugeot handicap under Christophe Soumillon.

The pair defeated stable companion Viscount Nelson and de Kock said: "Both have run very well and I am delighted with the pair. We expected Mutahadee to come out on top of our pair but perhaps not win first time out and we thought Viscount Nelson would need the run and further so we could not be happier."

Equally impressive was the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Prince Bishop who beat stable companion Spring Of Fame in the 2000m Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism handicap.

Frankie Dettori rode the winner and Bin Suroor said: "Prince Bishop disappointed us originally but was then gelded and has bounced back to his best. We will have to think about stepping him up in class."

Mubarak bin Shafya saddled the progressive Jamr to win his third consecutive race in the opening 2200m Swaidan Trading Company - VDL handicap to the delight of his jockey Pat Cosgrave who said: "He has now won all three starts since joining us and has improved from each start. He probably stays further than this so I was happy to go for home at the top of the straight and luckily they could not catch me."

The 1200m Al Naboodah Construction Group conditions race was won by Captain Obvious for Steven Burridge, providing the Singapore-based trainer a second winner at the Carnival after Dark Matter won the UAE 2,000 Guineas Trial last week.

It was a winning first ride in the UAE for Oscar Chavez who said: "That is the perfect start and Steven has some nice horses here in Dubai so hopefully it won’t be the last winner."

The concluding 1600m turf SMKA - MK By Honeywell handicap was won by Blue Panis, a first UAE runner for trainer Xavier Demeaulte and ridden by Olivier Peslier who said: "I was hopeful rather than confident before the race so it is nice he has won so well."

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