After a decent third in his seasonal debut, the Jebel Ali Stakes Prep, Mashaahed took full advantage of that run over the dirt and moved forward to win the JA Stakes itself on Friday’s six race card. The win gave Erwan Charpy another victory in the Jebel Ali Stakes after he took the event with Singing Poet in 2006, who finished midpack in the 2010 edition, and the 2008 running with Rampallion. Meeriss, thus far a strong Jebel Ali performer for Dhruba Selvaratnam, was a half-length back in second with long shot Noisy Silence, the lowest rated horse in the field, a head back in third.
While Mashaahed took the lead with 300 meters to run and held sway for the win over Meeriss, Noisy Silence’s game performance may have been the most eye-opening and will surely be rewarded with an improvement in the ratings as a result.
It was a big afternoon for jockey Royston Ffrench who took down half the meeting with wins in the Jebel Ali Mile Prep plus the fourth and fifth races on the card, winning two for Ali Rashid Al Raihe and one for Musabah Al Muhairi. Jet Express served as the conduit for Ffrench’s day as the classy 7-year-old made easy work of 15 competitors to land the Mile Prep by some 6.25 lengths. The three top-weights ran to weighting in the trifecta, completed by Estidhaaf and Taqdeyr, making his first local start for Abdullah bin Huzaim. Ffrench found a shocking success in the fourth race when Celtic King, off an easy win at Sharjah just six days ago, and a middling 68 rating, re-upped his form with a wide four-length win over some much classier company.
Racing continues at Jebel Ali next Friday.