Al Mazrouei‘s Tha’Er wins final Wathba Cup at Al Ain racecourse

The HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s Wathba Stud Farm Cup For Private Owners Only kick-started the final race meeting of Al Ain 2015-16 on Friday, March 18. It provided a superb success to Emirati owner-trainer Saeed Hadher Al Mazrouei.

Tha’Er, ridden by Xavier Ziani won the Wathba Stud Farm Cup For Private Owners 1600m handicap and it was a third winner of the season for trainer Saeed Hadher Al Mazrouei.

Tha’Er had provided one of those previous victories for Al Mazrouei, when winning a 1400m handicap at the course in January.

“The trainer was pretty hopeful,” said Ziani. “He had won at 1600m in the past so we knew he would stay and he won nicely enough in the end.”

 In another 1800m handicap that looked, on paper, ultra competitive but that proved to be far from the case with Munaaf, owned by HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, winning very easily.

Trained by Ahmed Al Mehairbi for HH Sheikh Mansoor Munaaf and jockey Szczepan Mazur stormed clear inside the final 300m, crossing the line over 11 lengths clear of his rivals.

It was a second career victory for the six-year-old and the first on dirt after success in a 1400m handicap on the Abu Dhabi turf in November last year.

“The further we went the better he was going,’ said Mazur. “He won easily in the end and it was a good performance.”

Ms Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA), Chairperson of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) said the Wathba Stud Farm Cup series was staged for the first season in Al Ain and it was a huge success.

“The whole focus of this race series, as directed by HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, is to encourage Purebred Arabian racing at the grass roots level and this is what that has happened,” she said.

The HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival is sustained by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and coordinated by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, with National Feed and Flour Production and Marketing Co. LLC as associate sponsors, IPIC as Strategic Partner, The  National Archives as the official partner and Emirates airline as the official carriers, in cooperation with Emirates Racing Authority, IFAHR, Emirates Arabian Horse Society, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare with  and sponsored by Ayadii LLC, Global United Veterinary Services LLC, Bloom, Petromal, Rise General Trading Co. LLC, Hayatna, Wathba Stallions, Abu Dhabi Falconers Club, Emirates Falconers Club,  Mohamed Bin Zayed Falconry and Desert Physiognomy School, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Al Awani General Enterprises, Kabale, Omeir Travels, Dr Nader Saab Switzerland, Laboratories Fadia Karam Cosmetics, YAS Channel, Racing Post, Paris Turf,  Al Wathba Centre, the UAE's General Women's Union, The Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy, Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2016, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, Eastern Mangroves Suites-Abu Dhabi by Jannah, Anantara Eastern Mangroves Spa and Resort.

Source: HH SH Mansoor Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival / Satya Narayan