THE horse racing season began on a stunning note in Sakhir yesterday with an outsider claiming the feature event of the day and two other favourites biting dust.
Doc Holliday, owned by Al Montasir, trained by Alan Smith and ridden by Bruno Marchand, caused the biggest shock when it raced to victory in the Opening Day Cup for locally bred horses which carried a cash prize of BD2,000.
Doc Holliday beat Wahran by three-fourth-length while Between The Sheets and Luna Dentro finished third and fourth.
Favourite Golias, owned by Al Nasseriyah, trained by Smith and ridden by Gerald Avranche, won the second feature of the day which was for the Al Khaldia Group Cup for imported horses which also carried a cash prize of BD2,000.
Upset
Golias beat Halkin by a length while Sun Of The Sea was third and Blue Glory fourth.
Rabdaan 1343, owned by Al Sakhir, trained by Fadhel Al Asfoor and ridden by Samir Dawood, caused the first upset of the day when it beat Rabdaan 1133 by three-fourth-length to win the race for Arabian horses.
Al Musannah 1269 was third and Rabdaan 1170 fourth.
Deal Flipper, owned by Raed Ahmed Yousif Alboainain, trained by Yousif Alboainain and ridden by Adnan Jaffar, also scored an upset victory to win the handicap race.
Deal Flipper beat Alaneed by two-and-half-length while Agencourt was third and Rajaall fourth.
Favourites restored normalcy in the remaining two races with Calculated Risk winning the race for locally bred horses and Cappa Brack claimed the race for imported horses. Both races carried cash prizes of BD1,000 each.
Calculated Risk, owned by Al Nasseriyeh, trained by Smith and ridden by Avranche, pipped Tharwa by a neck while Muth-hel was third and Ghazwa fourth.
Cappa Brack, owned by Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, trained by James Naylor and ridden by Ali Al Saffar, was a more comfortable winner as it beat Jacquard by one-and-three-fourth-length while Carnaby Haggerston was third and Leeside Champ fourth.
1st race: 1 Rabdaan1343 (owned by Al Sakhir, trained by Fadhel Al Asfoor, ridden by Samir Dawood); 2 Rabdaan 1133 (Al Riffa, S Yousif, Mumrez Khan); 3 Al Musannah 1269 (Jameel, Mustafa Akber, Ali Al Saffar); 4 Rabdaan 1170 (Al Riffa, S Yousif, Hussain Abdulla).
2nd race: 1 Deal Flipper (Raed Ahmed Yousif Alboainain, Yousif Alboainain, Adnan Jaffar); 2 Alaneed (Kumail A Jalil Al Mallah, Ramzi Al Baqlawa, Bruno Marchand); 3 Agen Court (Al Nasseriyeh, A Smith, Gerald Avranche); 4 Rajaall (Reem Shawqi Al Tajer, Hani Marzooq, Jaffar Marzooq).
3rd race: 1 Calculated Risk (Al Nesserieh, A Smith, Gerald Avranche); 2 Tharwa (Fawzi Abdulla Nass, Fawzi Nass, Arnavd Bouleau); 3 Muth-Hel (Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, J Naylor, Moh'd Al Saffar); 4 Ghazwa (Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, J Naylor, Ali Al Saffar).
4th race: 1 Cappa Brack (Shaikh Moh'd bin Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, J Naylor, Ali Al Saffar); 2 Jacquard (Al Nasseriyeh, A Smith, Arnavd Bouleau); 3 Carnaby Haggerston (Hussain Ebrahim Al Afoo, Moh'd Hassan, Tyrone Williams); 4 Leeside Champ (Al Nasseriyeh, A Smith, Gerald Avranche).
5th race: 1 Golias (Al Nasseriyeh, A Smith, Gerald Avranche); 2 Halkin (Fawzi Abdulla Nass, Fawzi Nass, Stephane Ladjadj); 3 Sun of the Sea (Habib Ebrahim Ramadhan, Jaber Ramadhan, Gary Hind); 4 Blue Glory (Abdulla Jaffar Marzooq, Abbas Al Mowali, Anthony Whelan).
6th race: 1 Doc Holliday (Al Montasir, A Smith, Bruno Merchand); 2 Wahran (Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa, J Naylor, Ali Al Saffar); 3 Between the Sheets (Fahad Ahmed Khalil Ali, Talal Al Alawi, Gary Hind); 4 Luna Dentro (Al Montasir, A Smith, Ahmed Akbar).
