GEORGE Baker and David O’Meara celebrated valuable, big-race success with a victory apiece on the opening day of the 2022/23 Bahrain Turf Series at the Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club’s racecourse in Al Raffa, Sakhir.
Locally trained horses won nine of the 10 races in last season’s series but the opening race of this season, the Al Muharraq Cup, went the way of Lucander, owned by Nigel Jones and Paul Bowden. Now trained by Baker, Lucander was last seen when finishing eighth in the Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket for Ralph Beckett.
The son of Footstepsinthesand stormed clear of his rivals to win by 5-½ lengths in the 2,000m race for imported horses with handicap, with What A Welcome in second, Arctic Emperor in third and Box to Box fourth.
Unsuccessful with two horses last season, Baker returned to Bahrain with three horses and was rewarded. An overjoyed Candida, Baker’s wife, said after the race, “We came here last year and we learnt very early on that you don’t bring hold up horses here. We bought horses that we hoped would be much better suited. We are heavily invested in Bahrain and the racing here. The Bahraini trainers are very hard to beat so we were delighted to win with Lucander.”
Pat Cosgrave flew over from Dubai to ride for Baker and was impressed with Lucander’s performance. He said: “I hadn’t sat on Lucander before but the way he quickened and put the race to bed shows he has a big engine. I thought we went quite quickly and I was a bit further back than I wanted to be but I couldn’t go much faster so I sat and let him find his feet. He came good for me about halfway and then down into the straight he came alive. He won well in the end.”
In the second Bahrain Turf Series race of the day, the £60,000 Al Manama Cup over 1,000m for imported horses with handicap, O’Meara-trained Nomadic Empire was the winner for local owner Al Mohamediya Racing. Rider Neil Callan, who won two races last season, started this year’s series off in good style with a well-timed ride, to get the better of Instinctive Move in an exciting finish. Digital came in third followed by Ocean Star.
Callan was very taken by Nomadic Empire, he said: “He has no shortage of ability. I think he’s almost bordering on a Group horse. He had great form last summer in England and when I rode him in the Portland Handicap, he gave me some feel! These races in Bahrain are run at an endless pace from start to finish which really suited him. His form was a bit up and down in England which meant that he has been creeping down the handicap.”
Callan paid tribute to O’Meara who had his first runner in Bahrain since Lord Glitter’s memorable triumph in the 2021 Bahrain International Trophy.
In the last race of the eight-card meeting for the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup for imported horses with handicap over 1,400m, Chimgan, owned by Al Mohamediya Racing and ridden by Ali Husain, won by 1/2 a length over inveigle, followed by Modmin and Nine Below Zero in that order.
Endifaa, owned by Hasan Mefareh Alajmi, eased to victory in the other Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup over 1,400m for imported maiden horses, WFA, the seventh race. Ridden by Ebrahim Nader, Endifaa won by 7-1/2 lengths over Altai, with Suwad in third and Roosevelt’s Grit fourth.
In the sixth race for the Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club Cup over 1,200m for locally bred class 1 graded horses, Khazzama, owned by Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa and ridden by Nader, won by a length over Mudallal, followed by Mediterranean Moon in third and Raseen taking fourth place.
The fifth race also for the Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club Cup over 2,200m for locally bred class 1 graded horses, Living Art, owned by Abdulla Sami Nass and ridden by Stephane Ladjadj, romped to victory by 8-1/2 lengths over Manama Girl, followed by Zeeshan and Campolina in third and fourth places, respectively.
The Ghost Ship, owned by Victorious and ridden by Edinson Rodriguez, won the second race over 1,400m for locally bred horses with handicap, by 1/2 a length over Shu Taibah, with Jabarah in third and Andante finishing fourth.
In the opening race over 1,400m for WAHO class 4, maiden horses, WFA, Al Saqlawy 1807, owned by Al Riffa, was ridden to a 2-1/4 lengths victory over Kuheilan Umm Zorayr 1838 by Nader. Al Krush 1823 finished third, followed by Al Shawaf 1817 in fourth place.
Dr Adel Salem, BBK general manager-retail banking services, presented the Al Manama Cup to Shaikh Sultanuddin bin Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa; Fawaz Al Jowder, CEO of SayaCorp, presented the Al Muharraq Cup to the winning owner Eli Vans; Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, REHC executive director for organisational affairs, presented the club cup for the fifth race to Abdullah Sami Nass; Youssef Buhejji, REHC executive director for operations affairs, presented the club cup for the sixth race to Haider Ibrahim; Jeremy Green, representative of the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup, presented the cup for the seventh race to Hasan Mefareh Alajmi, and the eighth race cup to Shaikh Sultan Al-Din bin Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa.
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