Al Tariq rewarded the patience of his connections with a hard-fought victory in Listed company on Friday at Jebel Ali Racecourse, defeating Doug Watson-trained stablemate Fanaar in the five-furlong straight-course contest, the $135,000 Listed Jebel Ali Sprint.
Ridden with confidence by Pat Dobbs to a final time of 59.23 seconds, the 5-year-old French-bred gelded son of Oasis Dream won for the second time in 15 starts and first from three tries in the UAE.
Previously in the care of Pia Brandt in his native France, the bay charge has shown marked improvement over the past month of training and displayed such this afternoon, flashing strong pace throughout.
The performance franked the form of yardmate Golden Goal, who defeated him on 21 January at Meydan by 13 lengths and is bound for the Gr3 Burj Nahaar on Super Saturday.
Plans for Al Tariq are up in the air in all the right ways following this excellent
Watson: “His first start over here last year, he just got beat, so we’ve always liked him. It’s great to have owners like Abdul, because earlier in the season, he had a hairline (fracture) in his elbow and he let us take our time with him and then he ran well the other night–but then I didn’t expect him to have that kind of pace, but he did and he ran very well. He ran great and loved the hill. Last year, when we ran him here, he loved it then. You can’t imagine how good it feels to win a nice race for Abdul. We’ve had good times, we’ve had horrible times and he’s been with me. It’s great to win this. Fanaar ran a great race and I’m really happy with him. He was just second-best today.”
- $135,000 Listed Jebel Ali Sprint
- 1000m (dirt)
- Winner: AL TARIQ
- Owner: Abdul Mohsen Al Abdul Kareem
- Trainer: Doug Watson
- Jockey: Pat Dobbs
- Breeder: Selim Blanga Moghrabi (FR)
- 2nd: FANAAR (Dane O’Neill)
- 3rd: ALKARAAMA (Jim Crowley)
- Time: 59.23
- Margins: 1 1/4, 3, 3/4
