ABU DHABI // Yousef al Baloushi finally has a winner to call his own. He made every yard of the running to win the 120km Al Wathba Cup on the 11-year-old Anglo Arab gelding Roherty Bold Impression at the Emirates International Endurance Village yesterday. Al Baloushi had saddled eight winners under different riders as the trainer for the Al Ain wing of the Al Reef Stables and broke his own duck as a rider after seven attempts for the season. "It really doesn't matter who wins as long as it is for the stables, yet that good feeling of a victory on a horse you regularly ride and train brings a lot of satisfaction and joy," al Baloushi said.
"I had a plan to run this horse at my own pace and it worked out well on the day. The weather and underfoot conditions after the overnight showers suited well to make all the running." The horse was returning from injury for his first race in six months. "He picked up from where he left," added Al Baloushi, who completed the race in 4hrs 47mins - five minutes ahead of Abdulla Khamis al Dhahi on Omani Iman for the Al Aasfa Limited.
Munthar al Baloushi, brother of the winning rider, was a further six minutes behind in third on Al Notarj Zhaan for the Al Reef, followed by the National Day Cup winner Ali al Muhairi on Shardell Shantarnah and Majed Salman al Sabri onboard Alegria. Ahmed Saeed al Kamda on Al Galyb HCF won the 100km race for the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Cup exclusively for the Emirate riders from the privately-owned stables.
The winner crossed the finishing line in 4hrs 6mins followed by Layla Abdul Aziz al Redha on Mafalda De Bellevue and Aliya al Marzouqi onboard Soughah. @Email:apassela@thenational.ae
