HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival races in Belgium on Monday

Sartejano under Italian Apprentice jockey Daniel Scipioni (in picture) won the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race at the Klampenborg Racecourse, Copenhagen, Denmark on August 7 and will be bidding to win Monday's HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship race under Denmark's Sabina Gamelgaard in Ostend, Belgium.

Mahdod, Sartejano make quick comeback bidding to win again

Qatari jockey Faleh Bughenaim will be aiming for his second Group 3 success on Al Mahdod while Sartejano will be looking to win another HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak race in nine days as the Hippodrome Wellington in Ostend Belgium plays host to two premier races of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival on Monday, August 15, 2016.

Al Mahdod and stablemate Al Nashmi, both trained by Elizabeth Bernard and representing the Al Shaqab Racing in Qatar, will be battling it out again in the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup (Group 3).

The two horses had battled it out to a 1-2 in the President Of The U.A.E. Cup (Group 3) at the same racecourse on August 2 and are back to race over 1800-metres for a slice of the Euros 35,000 on offer.

The Qatari jockey Bughenaim on Mahdod won by a neck in that race and will be looking to grab his second Group success in Europe while Al Nashmi under Thomas Messina, edged out by a neck, will be hoping the extra furlong in Monday’s race will help him upset the favourite.

Richard Mullen will be on Fajr Qardabiyah, the horse that finished third behind Mahdod and Al Nashmi is also in the line-up along with Nil Ashal (Sybylle Vogt), Sha’Hir (Mikhael Forest), Shrek OA (Anna van den Troost), Toutatix (Per-hans Graberg) and Hurra (Anthony Deau).  

Before the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup (Group 3), the Festival’s HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship will be worked off to help another lady to qualify for the November 6 final in Abu Dhabi.

The 1000-metre sprint with a prize fund of Euros 30,000 will have Sartejano under Denmark’s Sabine Gammelgaard bidding to win his second race in nine days. On August 7, the 9-year-old Sartejano carrying Italian Apprentice jockey Daniel Scipioni won the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race at the Klampenborg Racecourse, Copenhagen, Denmark.

That win came after a long drought but the Diana Dorenburg-trained Sartejano will be under the Danish lady jockey who won the Bahrain leg of 2015 Ladies Championship and will be bidding to qualify again this year.

The host country will be cheering for Macallan under Belgian Anne Engels.

Messi under Great Britain’s Catherine Walton is also a strong contender while Omani lady jockey Al Wardi will be riding Fareedha in the sprint.

Other runners and lady jockeys are L’Eau Du Tigre under Peelman, Maghazi under Li De Blende, Nero D.A under Norway’s Thea Hofassaeter, Nil Aziz under Ireland’s Evanna McCutcheon, Nobas D.A under Spain’s Beatriz Alonso, Cali De L’Ardus under Italy’s Jessica Marcialis, HB Ma’Aish under Poland’s Kamila Maryniak, Badia under Germany’s Stefanie Hofer and D.A Orage under Bertiaux.

Ms Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA) and Chairperson of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) hailed the quality entries for the two races.

“The Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup has attracted a strong field and this Group 3 contest promises to throw up an exciting contest,” Ms Sawaya said.

“In the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship the lady jockeys will be aware that after this race there are just two more legs to qualify. A couple of former winners are in the fray and with Sartejano back after his Danish win, this race also has the makings of a thriller,” 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  and sponsored by Al Aweer Stables, 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