The Mike de Kock trained 2016 Gr2 Gold Cup winner Enaad outstayed his field in fine style at the Champ de Mars on Sunday to win the Gr1 Air Mauritius Maiden Cup.
Flashback – Enaad wins the Gold Cup
The premier race on the Indian Ocean Island attracted a bumper crowd to the Port Louis track and produced an easy win for the Australian-bred gelding from the Gujadhur stable.
Ridden by Steven Arnold, Enaad, narrowly beaten in his latest start, managed to go one better to give his rider a second classic win on the trot, and the third straight classic success for the Gujadhur stable.
Enaad was relaxed in eighth position but quickly turned on the jets turning for home. He won going away to beat the former Vaughan Marshall runner M L Jet with Yashin Emamdee in the irons.
The winner was bred in Australia by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and is a son of ill-fated Coolmore shuttle stallion High Chaparral, a champion son of Sadler’s Wells. He is out of the twice winning Danehill Dancer mare, Al Anood.
As its name suggests, the feature was originally reserved for horses that had never won a race in Mauritius. The records date back to 1843, when the Maiden Plate, as it was known, was won by M A Gonard’s Creeper.
Since 1983, when won by the great Noble Salute, the race has been run over the classic distance of 2400m. The Maiden Trophy has been in use since 1935.
