Cosmo Charlie and Stunned head Watson’s five winners at Meydan

The U.S. expat six-time UAE champion trainer kicked off his quintet of wins in the evening’s second race, the Azizi Star with Mr. H And B’s promising Al Seel Legacy’s before sweeping the two Listed stakes, the Dubai Creek Mile and The Entisar, with Mohd Khalifa Al Basti’s Stunned and Ramzan Kadyrov’s Cosmo Charlie, respectively. Watson then took out the final two races, both handicaps with possible Dubai World Cup Carnival implications, with Al Basti’s Lytham St Annes and Hamid Radan’s Galvanize.

Four of those victories came in the hands of jockey Pat Dobbs and with start of the eagerly anticipated 2019 Dubai World Cup Carnival only two weeks away, their timing of form for both trainer and jockey could not have been better.

Al Seel Legacy’s got Watson’s bountiful evening off and running in the Azizi Star Maiden for colts and geldings, and it was jockey Sam Hitchcott who steered the winner home by three-quarters of a length from Lumfit in second and favourite Lacienegaboulevard close behind in third.

The Dubai Creek Mile (Listed) over 1600 metres was dominated by Watson, who saddled a trio of the seven runners and promptly supplied the first three home. One Man Band made a gallant attempt to make all the running under Hitchcott and with 400 metres to run looked to have had all six rivals beaten. That was except stable companion Stunned, who under Dobbs, had enough in the closing stages to take the honours by a short head for a first victory on his 12th attempt at that distance. Thegreatcollection rounded out the top three for Watson albeit trailing the leading pair by just over five lengths.

That double soon became a treble as Watson saddled his fourth winner of The Entisar (Listed) thanks to Cosmo Charlie. The race was inaugurated in 2013 over the same 2000 metre dirt course and distance as the world’s most valuable horse race, the US$12 million Dubai World Cup, and Dobbs and Cosmo Charlie went straight to the front with a testing opening quarter. However they then proceeded to ease off in the middle 1200 metres, almost lulling their rivals into a false sense of hope before turning the power back and on sprinting home in dominant fashion. The winning margin of seven and a quarter lengths from New Trails and Montsarrat in third tells its own story

The Azizi Farishta was a much closer affair but still provided Watson with his fourth success of the evening and Dobbs his treble courtesy of favourite Lytham St Annes. The 1200 metre handicap was run at a furious early gallop with Waady and Pirate’s Cove scampering throughout the first half of the race before the former dropped early in the straight. Pirate’s Cove and Xavier Ziani went clear, but from a long way back, Lytham St Annes was produced with a withering late challenge to take the victory by a nose right on the line.

The meeting concluded with a 1600 metre handicap, the Azizi Riveira, in which Watson made it a handful of sucesses, winning with 5-year-old Galvanize. Returning from a 280-day layoff, the Pat Dobbs-piloted charge stalked throughout before powering clear turning for home, ultimately finishing well in command by four and a half lengths from Portamento in second and Old Fashioned a further length and a half back in third.

The Madjani (Listed PA), the only Purebred Arabian contest on the card, kicked off proceedings and was won relatively easily by Abhaar, one of four among the 16 runners saddled by Eric Lemartinel for reigning champion owner His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Sporting a distinguishing black cap, Olivier Doleuze was content to bide his time on Abhaar, who was well away from the stalls, but from the widest draw of all in 16. They edged closer at halfway before powering down the straight on the outside to snatch the spoils close home from fellow Group 1 winners Al Zahir and Ziyadd.
The Azizi Mina, a 1600 metre Maiden restricted to two-year-old fillies, was won by Al Hayette, owned and trained by Ismail Mohammed and opening her account at the fifth attempt. Fabrice Veron was in the saddle, winning his first Meydan race as the winning pair came in four lengths to the good from Razenna in second and favourite Lady Parma in second.

The next racing at Meydan is on 3 January 2019 with the first meeting of the 2019 Dubai World Cup Carnival.