A NON-CARNIVAL meeting at Meydan on Sunday contained a trio of valuable handicaps, the best of which was arguably the nine and a half furlong turf handicap race in which Castlebar produced a gritty performance, always answering the urgings of Adrie de Vries, to land the spoils for trainer Helal Alalawi and Fahad Mohammed Aloraini and establish a new track record in the process.

A four-year-old son of invincible Spirit, this was his fourth start for current connections and a third career success in nine starts, having won twice in Britain for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin.

De Vries said: “He is a nice horse who arrived with some good form from England and he has travelled very nicely throughout and then galloped on strongly.”

The equally valuable six-furlong dirt handicap was totally dominated by trainer Rashed Bouresly and horses owned by the Bouresly Racing Syndicate, Shanty Star, completing a double on the card for Richard Mullen, and leading home a stable 1-2-3. Mullen had won a lesser seven-furlong handicap on Shanty Star a week earlier.

Watson double

The concluding six-furlong handicap on turf was won by Shadwell’s Jadwal, who ran on strongly under Dane O’Neill for Doug Watson, who was completing a double on the card. A homebred four-year-old son of Mustajeeb, Jadwal and O’Neill had won a course and distance handicap a fortnight earlier and this victory should have cemented his Dubai World Cup Carnival claims.

Watson said: “Depending on what the handicapper does we will look at the fixtures but there is a handicap at the Carnival if he remains eligible. If not we will have to step him up in class.”

One Idea was the comfortable winner of a mile turf maiden, saddled by Doug Watson for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum whose retained jockey, Andrea Atzeni, performed the steering. The five-year-old gelded son of Dubawi was opening his account at the seventh attempt.

Atzeni said: “He did that quite nicely today and has appreciated the return to turf, the mile was ideal and the fast ground has suited him. Hopefully he can build on this.”

Perfect Balance

Mayaadeen and Perfect Balance were first and second throughout the entire mile dirt handicap, with the latter grabbing the initiative two and a half furlongs out and never looking likely to relinquish it under Tadhg O’Shea, riding for Bhupat Seemar in the colours of Desert Rose Racing. The four-year-old son of Invincible Spirit was having just his second start for new connections, having won in Britain for his breeders Godolphin and trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

The mile turf handicap was contested at a scorching early gallop which really suited the eventual winner, Kaheall. He hit the front just inside the final furlong under a masterful Richard Mullen ride for Salem bin Ghadayer and Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The four-year-old son of Muhaarar, making his local debut, had won three of his five starts for William Haggas, and looks an exciting new recruit to the UAE.

The fixture’s only purebred Arabian race was turned into a procession by Barakka, shedding his maiden tag on his second start. Ray Dawson sported the silks of Sultan Ali for trainer Ahmad bin Harmash.