ABU DHABI // Ali Haddad's fears turned to joy after Nieshan won the National Day Prep last night at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club.
The owner of the multiple Group 1 winner feared for the 1,600-metre trip was too short his champion Purebred Arabian but the six-year-old chestnut son of Akbar proved him wrong.
The jockey Gerald Avranche got his tactics just right, keeping Nieshan tucked in fourth before moving clear to win by three-quarters of a length from Fryvolous, another multiple Group 1 winner.
Haddad said Nieshan only ran after a difference of opinion between himself and his trainer Eric Lemartinel. "It is actually not the right distance for this horse," Haddad said. "The problem is this horse is a champion and the highest rated [122] in the country.
"I was nervous because if he didn't win it would have been a very big setback to his reputation.
"I didn't want this to happen. Alhamdulillah, he won. It was the Eric's decision and for the first time in so many years I interfered on his work.
"I told him, 'Eric, please don't run him on this race'.
"He was confident though. He told me he would make me smile. And he did. Nieshan will now go for the National Day Cup.
"If all goes well, he will go for the title defence of the President of the UAE Cup and then have another crack at the Dubai Kahayla Classic."
Nieshan extended his career victories to nine in 26 starts. He was fifth in this race last season and finished third in the National Day Cup two weeks later.
All his previous wins have been over 2,000 metres, including the Dh1 million President of the UAE Cup in Abu Dhabi and the Group 1 Maktoum Challenge Round-3 at Meydan Racecourse last season.
He was runner up in the 2011 Kahayla Classic behind Seraphin Du Paon and fifth to the Qatari raider TM Fred Texas in the same race last March.
"There are no other races over the longer distances so early in the season but I was quietly confident he would run a big race because he has been training well," Lemartinel said.
Royston Ffrench set the early pace on Thakif and led until the home stretch. Avranche sat patiently in fourth place before sweeping through the field in the last 300 metres.
"He moved well but I thought I had him in front too soon and he started to idle a bit," Avranche said. "It was his first run for the season and he will improve.
"I think he needed this run because he has put on a bit since the last time I was on him on the Dubai World Cup night in March."
Derbaas, ridden by Dane O'Neill for the UAE champion trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe, led a one-two-three for the owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid in the National Day Cup Prep for the thoroughbreds. James Doyle got Sabbaq in front in the last stride after a battle to the line to pip Lahaan under Tadhg O'Shea, to take the opener, a Maiden for UAE bred colts and geldings.
Doyle, trying to make all the running on Farooq, was denied a double half-an-hour later when Patrick Cosgrave came with a late burst to take the second race on stable companion Kerkouan to complete a double for the trainer Jaber Bittar.
apassela@thenational.ae
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Results:
5pm: Baynunah Conditions (UAE bred) Dh80,000 1,400m.
Winner: Al Tiryaq, Dane O’Neill (jockey), Abdullah Al Hammadi (trainer).
5.30pm: Al Zahra Handicap (rated 0-45) Dh 80,000 1,400m:
Winner: Fahadd, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi.
6pm: Al Ras Al Akhdar Maiden Dh80,000 1,600m.
Winner: Jaahiz, Jesus Rosales, Eric Lemartinel.
6.30pm: Al Reem Island Handicap Dh90,000 1,600m.
Winner: AF Al Jahed, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel.
7pm: Al Khubairah Handicap (TB) 100,000 2,200m.
Winner: Empoli, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
7.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap Dh80,000 2,200m.
Winner: Shivan OA, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
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