Cool At The Pool. Nico Kritsiotis and Keagan De Melo relaxing at their hotel pool after a long flight
Tellytrack’s Nico Kritsiotis has reported that he and promising South African apprentice Keagan De Melo were being treated to ‘royal hospitality’ following their arrival at the 6-star Eastern Mangroves Hotel and Spa Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
One of South Africa’s leading and most experienced horseracing television personalities, Kritsiotis and De Melo are part of a group that includes SA Jockey Academy riding master Rhys van Wyk, Equus Award-winning print media journalist David Thistleton and KZN Tellytrack producer Raymond Rogers.
They are there to attend Sunday’s racing in Abu Dhabi, where De Melo will represent the SA Jockey Academy.
The race,known as the HH Sheika Fatima Bint Mubarak EARS Apprentice Jockey Cup, sees 14 young riders from all over the world riding Arabian horses. Riders are from as far afield as Great Britain, France, Germany,Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the USA.
The race, to be run at 16h30(SA time), will be held at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club and is part of a six race programme.
De Melo is carded to ride the six year old entire Af Qamoos in the level weights race. The one-time winner is owned by Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda and trained by E Lemartinel. De Melo is no stranger to the Arabians, having ridden them in Qatar. He told The Racegoer recently that they were more difficult to ride,one-paced and didn’t corner as well.
There is also a ladies race held on the day where the winning rider will receive no less than a brand new Mercedez-Benz.
The South African contingent left Durban en route to Dubai on Emirates Airlines and arrived at 05h00 yesterday (Wednesday) morning. South Africa is two hours ahead of Dubai.
Today they attended a press conference and are being hosted at a banquet tonight.
An upbeat Kritsiotis, speaking to us in a telephone interview, said that the local hospitality and friendliness was the lasting initial impression.
“The beers aren’t cheap either, but we can live with that,” he laughed.
Kritsiotis said that he was also hoping to visit Mike De Kock’s Meydan operation before their departure on Tuesday.
