Doubles, once again, were the order of the day at Jebel Ali on Friday, headlined by a brace for Sheikh Hamdan and his retained jockey, Paul Hanagan. 

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The pair initially combined to land the featured 1800m Jebel Ali Stakes Prep with Sefri, trained by Erwan Charpy. Certainly not the most obvious winner on paper, Sefri was always travelling nicely for Hanagan who, with about 600m left, set sail for home. 

With Sefri galloping relentlessly up the renowned Jebel Ali hill, they never looked likely to be caught, although the eventual fourth, Mawhub, may have at least finished closer had his jockey, Richard Mullen, not suffered a hamstring injury in the final 400m.

Charpy said: “The horse deserved that; he has run plenty of good races but things have never fallen into place like they did today. We have been learning about the horse and now, hopefully, we have the tactics and his ideal distance sorted.”

Sheikh Hamadan and Hanagan completed their double with Banaadeer, winner of a 1200m handicap and a second consecutive winner for trainer Doug Watson.

Hanagan said: “Credit to Doug and his team because this horse has not been the easiest in the stalls but behaved impeccably. He won that well and hope he can build on this.”

Watson and stable jockey, Pat Dobbs, had, 30 minutes earlier, combined with Busatto to win an 1800m handicap. As was the case with Banaadeer, he basically led all the way.

For the aforementioned Mullen, it was a mixed afternoon. Victorious in the opening 1400m conditions contest, the only Purebred Arabian race on the card, aboard the Abdallah Al Hammadi-trained Balad Al Reef, he made the perfect start.

Just 30 minutes later, he was back in the winner’s enclosure having won a 1400m maiden on Sky Jockey, trained by his main employer, Satish Seemar.

The trainer was to complete a double, saddling Hammurabi, the intended mount of Mullen, to win the concluding 1200m handicap. Sadly for the jockey, his earlier hamstring problem ruled him out of action with David Probert the fortunate beneficiary.