Horsemen the world over are always searching for that special thoroughbred, and Ertijaal may well be the one for those who work out of Grandstand Stables.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s sprinter is the overwhelming favourite against 10 opponents in Thursday night’s relocated Group 3 Meydan Sprint over 1,000 metres, and already the nerves of assistant trainer Jilani Siddiqui are jangling.
Ertijaal has won five of his last six races, and his only defeat was to the Australian raider Buffering in last season’s Al Quoz Sprint.
There have been some top-class thoroughbreds pass through Ali Al Raihe’s gates over the years. Al Shemali won the inaugural Dubai Duty Free (now Dubai Turf) at Meydan in 2010.
Who can forget the durable sprinter Happy Dubai, who won four times at Meydan during the 2011 and 2012 seasons and took his connections to a fruitless, but unforgettable trip to Singapore?
Neither, however, could boast the class of the six-year-old son of Oasis Dream, who was bred by the Minister Of Finance’s Shadwell operation.
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■ From 2013: Jilani Siddiqui proving to be a family guy
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Ertijaal is the highest-rated horse to ever grace Grandstand on 118 and Al Raihe’s assistant knows it only too well.
“I have been at Al Raihe’s for 14 years now and he is the best sprinter that we have ever had,” Siddiqui said.
“For me, he is the best horse we have ever had here. He is the champion at the moment and I don’t think there is a horse in the UAE that can run with him,” he continued, before adding a more hopeful “Inshallah”.
“There is a lot of responsibility having a horse like him in the yard. He is a very good horse. That makes me nervous, because every day we work very hard to bring him back safe and sound.
“We try to give him the same rider each time, and we have kept his training regime the same for the past few seasons.”
Ertijaal gave 15 rivals lumps of weight and a thorough beating when Al Raihe took the wraps of his stable star on the opening night of the Dubai World Cup Carnival last month.
It was a fine way to cement the relationship between the horse’s prominent owner and the British champion jockey Jim Crowley. In many ways it looked to be Ertijaal’s best career effort in 17 starts.
Not so ahead of Thursday’s US$175,000 (Dh642,774) contest, according to those closest to him.
“I’m not sure it was his best performance ever, because last year he was very good when he beat Divine by four lengths,” Siddiqui said.
“He wasn’t even totally fit. I would say he was about 90 per cent, because it was his first run of the season.
“I hope he will improve a lot for that run and he breezed well on Tuesday when he came home well in the final 400 metres.
“The foreman weighed him on Tuesday night and he is ready to go and we are all expecting a good run.”
The Meydan Sprint has been barged off the Super Saturday card on March 4 in favour of the new $200,000 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, which is over the 1,200-metre distance of the redesigned Al Quoz Sprint.
Ertijaal ran out of steam in the final 100m when beaten by Buffering in March, but Siddiqui has no concerns about Ertijaal getting home over further on March 25.
“I do not think that the extra 200m will be a problem on World Cup night,” he said.
“If he can travel through the race he can get the distance. If you remember a few years ago he won the HH President Cup in Abu Dhabi over 1,400m and he is a better horse now.”
Ertijaal faces a decent field with in-form Charlie Appleby’s Jungle Cat, who was fourth in the Al Quoz last season and second behind stablemate Baccarat in a handicap three weeks ago, the main danger.
Sole Power, the 2015 Al Quoz Sprint winner who will be ridden by Pat Smullen, has looked a rejuvenated character this season and showed with a fast finish last time behind Thursday’s rival Speed Hawk that he still has the dash to be competitive at this level.
British challengers Line Of Reason, Caspian Prince and Watchable also could prove dangerous, while Moviesta, part owned by former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp, could well go close switched back from dirt to turf.
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