The three races under the umbrella of the Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival being run here at the Duindigt racecourse near The Hague in The Netherlands on Sunday assumes great importance.

While the Group 3 Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup is also the second leg of the European Triple Crown, the lady jockeys intensify their chase for a berth in the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship finale in Abu Dhabi on November 8, 2015.

The two premier races of the Festival along with the Wathba Stud Farm Cup here on Sunday are being held under the directions of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Reigning Sheikh Zayed Cup European Triple Crown champion Ameretto gets a chance to score full points with a win as Al Mouwaffak, winner of the first leg on April 17 in Toulouse Cup, is not part of the starting line-up here. But Ameretto, under Manuel Manueddu, faces stiff competition from Athlete Del Sol which will be ridden by Dutch star and reigning Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Champion Jadey Pietrasiewicz. Other star contenders include Lahoob under Tadhg O'Shea; the Beverly Deutron-trained winner of the Sheikh Zayed Cup in Lingfield Park, UK earlier in the year; Phraseur Kossack, the winner of the Sheikha Fatima Ladies race in St Moritz in 2014; and Karar, a Wathba Stud farm Cup winner last year among others.

Apart from a slice of the €35,000 on offer for Sunday's 1900-metre Group 3 Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, the 12-strong field will also be chasing the €50,000 bonus, the prize for emerging European Triple Crown. The third leg of the Triple Crown will be held in Sluzewiec racecourse in Poland on August 23.

The €20,000 Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) race is expected to be a strong contest with reigning World Ladies Champion Pietrasiewicz on Nobas D.A; Indian ace Rupa Singh on Raya; and Bachair Qarbadiya, under Spanish star Lucia Bautista. Rupa and Baustista had finished fifth and 11th respectively behind Pietrasiewicz in last year's Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship final on November 9. Local star Pietrasiewicz also gets the credit for being the only jockey to feature in three Sheikh Mansour Festival races in a single race-meeting when she gets aboard Lightning Bolt in the Wathba Stud Farm Cup race.

Abdullah Hamdan Al Naqbi, UAE Ambassador to The Netherlands, had earlier in the week conducted the draw for the Sheikha Fatima race. "Sunday's race-card here in Duindigt has attracted some of the best Purebred Arabians currently racing in Europe and is part of the meeting which also stages the popular International Trot race — the Great Prize of the Low Lands,” said Lara Sawaya, executive director of the Sheikh Mansour Festival, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies, Chairperson of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities.
Source: WAM