On the opening night of the 2012 Dubai World Cup Carnival, on Thursday at Meydan, the Mike de Kock-trained Mahbooba, South Africa’s champion two-year-old filly of 2010 was an 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 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 [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.”
Mike commented: “A mile and a half is her game, so this was an excellent win. We’ll play it by ear for the rest of the Carnival.”
He said about Anaerobio, unplaced in a 1600m handicap earlier: “He didn’t perform to expectations but he needed it badly, he hadn’t raced for 18 months.”
Mike 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.
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 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.”
