Dubai native Ahmed Ajtebi landed the $2,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) aboard 30-1 longshot Vale Of York in a shocking upset on Saturday at Santa Anita. The win marks another notch in the belt of the up-and-coming rider who has raced to prominence under the tutelage of numerous top-class trainers, and the sponsorship of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Ajtebi’s year has been, by far, the tops in his six-year thoroughbred riding career. The Dubaian rode Gladiatorus and Eastern Anthem to an improbable double on Dubai World Cup night when landing the $5,000,000 Dubai Duty Free (G1) and $5,000,000 Dubai Sheema Classic (G1). The 27-year-old finished seventh in the UAE jockey standings in the 2008/2009 racing season and won on 17 percent of his 133 mounts in the United Kingdom this season.
Vale of York was rank early in the 8.5 furlong race, his first on a synthetic surface after five grass starts. He was second in the Italian Gran Criterium at San Siro on October 11 prior to this victory.
“It was somewhat risky to run on the synthetic,” said Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford following the win. When asked by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi if they would now consider a campaign towards the Kentucky Derby, Crisford seemed tentative but open to the possibility. By Invisible Spirit out of the Halling mare, Red Vale, Vale Of York now has three wins, a second, and a third from six lifetime starts with earning in excess of $1.3 million.