DUBAI JAN 5 - MAHBOOBA TAKES AL RASHIDIYA TRIAL

By Dubai Racing Club | Thursday, January 5, 2012

The Mike de Kock-trained Mahbooba was the impressive winner of the 1800m Al Rashidiya Trial Presented By Longines, the featured turf race on the first night of the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival at a meeting kindly sponsored by Longines.

First one past the post in last year's UAE 1000 Guineas, Mahbooba was a winner in England during the summer and won well to the delight of winning jockey Christophe Soumillon who said: "She was good on the all-weather last year, but seems just as good on the turf. This trip of 1800m was probably as short as she would want as she won over 2400m in England and stays well.

“I am not sure what future plans will be but we should have plenty of options with her and she is an ideal sort for the Carnival."

De Kock is second only to Saeed bin Suroor in the history of the Carnival and it was the Godolphin handler who made a flying start to the evening when his Sarrsar won the opening 1900m Longines Conquest Collection handicap from stable companion Cappone

Stable jockey Frankie Dettori was on the runner-up on that occasion but quickly made amends in the following 2200m Longines Prima Luna on bin Suroor's Honour System.

Bin Suroor said: "We have some nice horses for the Carnival and these two will probably be kept busy in this kind of race. It is a great start to the year and hopefully we have more winners to come."

Dettori completed his own double in the concluding 1400m turf Longines Saint Imier Collection on Time Prisoner who was also part of a brace for Godolphin's other handler, Mahmood Al Zarooni.

Al Zarooni had earlier saddled City Style to beat stable companion Bridgefield in the 1600m Longines Master Collection Moon Phases with Mickael Barzalona completing his double in the process on a great night for the whole Godolphin team.

Al Zarooni said: "That is a great start to our Carnival and hopefully it can continue. We have some nice horses to run this year but it is just great to make a winning start."

The first international winner of the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival came from the UK in the form of Addictive Dream, trained by Carnival regular Dandy Nicholls. It was the trainer’s first UAE winner at the 66th attempt.

His son Adrian was in the saddle and the winning trainer said: "Finally we have managed to win one. I think it is 10 years we have been trying now!

“We thought we had a decent chance but I was a bit worried he might have hit the front a bit too soon. Luckily he held on and it is just brilliant for the owners and the whole team."

The opening leg of the Meydan Masters International Jockey Challenge went to Furnace, trained by Erwan Charpy and ridden by Irishman Colm O'Donoghue.

Charpy said: "That was a great ride from a top jockey. He was able to get an easy lead and judged it perfectly."

The jockey goes into Friday's final three races in the challenge with a healthy lead and said: "It is nice to get a win on the board. Tomorrow will be interesting as there are a lot of very good jockeys here so it will not be easy to hold on but I will be trying hard."

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