Zenden and Antonio Fresu land the Group 1, $1,500,000 Dubai Golden Shaheen (Credit – DRC & Mathea Kelley)
American raider Zenden (USA) ran out a brilliant victor of the US $1.5m Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News but there was a sad postscript when the winner suffered a fatal injury past the wire.
Winning Rider Antonio Fresu was unshipped from the horse although he was able to walk away after the fall.
A first Dubai winner for trainer Carlos David a former assistant of troubled trainer Jason Servis, Zenden came to the race on the back of a successful prep run at Tampa in Florida. He looked to have an unfavourable draw in 14 of 14 but Fresu made a swift move early in the race to take a rail position and they were soon leading the field.
Zenden powered clear of his competition as he turned into the home straight, eventually winning by three and a quarter lengths.
Red Le Zele, trained by Japanese handler Takayuki Yasuda, finished second. The Doug Watson-trained Canvassed was two and three-quarter lengths further back in third. The winning time was 01:09:01.
Ryan Moore, jockey, RED LE ZELE (2nd) – “My horse ran super. 1200m was a bit sharp for him. He needs to step up in trip, but he ran a lovely race.”
Doug Watson, trainer, CANVASSED (3rd) – “It was tough from out there. He’s one that doesn’t have a whole lot of speed early but he travelled well and I thought he ran a big race just running so well three weeks ago. Hopefully next year he’ll have a campaign where we can spread out the races a little bit but I’m real pleased with him.”
Fernando Jara, jockey, WILDMAN JACK (4th) – “It was a good race for him. The winner went really quick and he never looked back. For us, there was no chance to catch him. But the connections are happy with him, I’m happy with him, he tried his best, so no excuses.”
William Buick, jockey, COPANO KICKING (5th) – “He ran well, he’s got no speed early and this track is different from Saudi Arabia, it’s more speed-favoured and we just couldn’t really get into it, to be honest. He finished off really well and ran another solid race.”
Edited Press Release: DRC
