Peach Of An Effort From Deciduous

The Sunday tickets at Meydan Racecourse are all about potential and Deciduous and Stormy Ocean will go down in many notebooks after their victories on the grass signaled a bright future.

Trained and owned by Salem Bin Ghadayer, leaves would have done enough to secure a place at the Dubai World Cup Carnival after his impressive success in the Fazaa Gold Handicap over 2400m on grass.

The four-year-old, who was bought for AED470,000 at the September Racing In Dubai sale, was blocked for a free run at the top of the straight.

After changing horses by a cool Mickael Barzalona, ​​he drove home and won by hands and heels over Sea Stone, a length and a half off second place.

“He won very easily, although I had to take my time on the straight when I thought I could go in and I couldn’t, so I had to go to the right,” Barzalona said. “Royston [Ffrench, jockey] was very happy with him last week for a mile and a (1800 yards). He suggested going into the journey and he was right.”

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Barzalona took away one of the other highlights of the evening, the Fazaa Platinum Handicap, over 1800 meters on grass Stormy Ocean.

The Frankel gelding, who first ran for Simon and Ed Crisford after switching from Charlie Appleby, traveled just behind the leaders and ended up in the lead on the final furlong, claiming a comfortable win over Franz Kafka and Perfect Love scored

“It’s the first time I’ve been riding him in the races,” said Barzalona, ​​whose horse has now likely earned a spot at the carnival after being previously rated 88. “He was strong at the beginning and then he settled in well and he has good action so hopefully he can go through.”

Coach Michael Costa seemed to have a strong hand with five runners on the card and he started as well as he could, with a brace in the first two races. Be torkee the Red Letter Day started with the first Fazaa Senior Maiden, over 1200 meters on grass.

The five-year-old was ridden by Jean Van Overmeire and did it the hard way, building up an early lead down the other side of the track and staying there, holding off the challenge of favorite Harvest Gold by a length.

“It was a bit unexpected to be honest,” said Van Overmeire after his eleventh win of the season. “Coming back to the 1200 meters was a big advantage. He could jump out nice and clean, travel within himself and he took care of it from then on.

“He’s a horse that works really well at home. Maybe he can move on now that he has a confidence boost.”

35 minutes later, Van Overmeire and Costa doubled Alhzeem rode home in the Fazaa Discount Maiden, over 1900 meters on dirt.

Van Overmeire, picked seven times, managed to stay out of the frenetic early pace and with plenty of horse left as the leaders tired, rolled through a gap on a double handful to win by nine lengths over Arabian Gazelles on the second place.

“Actually, I was a bit surprised at how far I went without making any mistakes. I had to take a few looks over my shoulder to confirm that,” said Van Overmeire. “I could see in front of me that nothing was really on the way, so I thought the gap would come and we’d get through it in one step, and that’s how it was.”

Musabbeh Al Mheiri is another who enjoyed a good weekend with a Carnival double on Friday, and he added to his haul when lie won the Fazaa Silver Handicap over 1600 meters on earth. The four-year-old was successful over the course and distance in November, brought up the rear here and once again showed an honest performance. The Gray and Antonio Fresu contested the lead early and stayed well for a clear one-and-a-half-length hit against Justice Protecol, with Triple Venture finishing third.

Al Mheiri doubled in the last race, the Fazaa Hemam Handicap, over 1400 meters on grass Ra’ad made his third start a successful one for the coach. The six-year-old, who was only running on grass for the second time, helped set the afternoon’s finish by sticking his neck out to deny Sadeedd and Chosen Mark, who threw challenges on either side of him.

“It was a big surprise to be honest,” said winning jockey Bernardo Pinheiro. “The farm has done a great job as this horse has not raced in two months and this was his first time on the grass [in the UAE]. He never gave up and when Sadeedd came in it was good because he liked the fight.”

• Meydan Racecourse is back in action on Friday 17th February^thwhen the Gr3 Dubai Millennium Stakes and Gr3 UAE Oaks are among the highlights of the Carnival Meeting Seven.