DOHA: Popular trainer Julian Smart yesterday celebrated three magnificent wins as Gazwan and Crescent produced near-perfect rides on a day of six cup races at Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC).
Smart-trained Gazwan - ridden by Marco Monteriso - beat Bahess and Zameer to nail win the Julaihah Cup with a time of 1:46:68 in the 1600m race.
Jassim Al Ghazali-trained Bahess failed to outrun Gazwan as Smart waved three fingers at the ground to celebrate his third big win of the day.
Crescent was ridden by Gerald Avranche in the Marmi Cup.
Earlier in the evening in race six, Smart-trained Mazen - who had T O’Shea in the saddle - topped the field in the Al Busayyir Cup to finish ahead of Ain Jalout and Al Fakhamah.
In race five, O’Shea had powered Smart-trained Gidwa to an impressive win in the Sadari Wasett Cup in which only pure Arabians featured.
Gidwa won the 1600m turf race in a time of 1:45.31. Harry Bentley’s ride Badriya finished second best while Radwah finished in third place.
“It’s been a good day,” Smart said. “Gidwah made me really happy. She’s going the right way,” he added. “Two from two. I’d like to run her once or twice more and then maybe take her to Europe,” Smart said.
“I want to keep it nice and easy before we go to Europe. Biggest surprise for me was Mazen.
“I honestly thought he’d be fourth or fifth if we were lucky,” Smart said. “He’s been improving. I thought there were some nice horses in there.
“And this fella, it all went wrong. He got injured in his shoulders and then he came back and he got abscess in his foot so we had to stop again,” Smart said.
“Finally we got him right after a long slog. He’s done pretty well. Basically that’s his first run. He’s a brother to many good horses in Al Shahaniya,” Smart said.
“These are the races when you see the future of horse racing in Doha, for Al Shahniya anyway,” Smart said.
“Our future looks bright. We saw good horses. Gidwah was impressive.
“She’s a huge ride. Of all the winners, Gidwah was the best,” Smart added with a smile.
Jockey O’Shea was in celebration mood along with Smart as the former also posted three wins.
In Al Aamriah Cup. O’Shea guided Bronze Maquette to victory ahead of Dahaab - who had Gatean Faucon in the saddle - and Natural Charm who was ridden by Bentley.
Bentley won two races - Al Bushyriyah Cup and Thoroughbred Maiden Plate - to round off an impressive outing at QREC. THE PENINSULA
