Hanagan guides winner at the Jebel Ali Racecourse

Haatheq ridden by Paul Hanagan wins the 1,950m Jebel Ali Stakes Prep Rated Conditions race on Friday.

Haatheq, ridden by former British champion jockey Paul Hanagan, came from the back doors to claim a long overdue victory after the nine-year-old veteran beat the favourites to land the 1,950m Jebel Ali Stakes Prep Rated Conditions at the Jebel Ali Racecourse on Friday.
"This is his first win since 2013 when he has won the same race but over a shorter distance," said jubilant trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe. "He has been training very well and has never finished out of the frame in his all recent starts, including when respectable fourth behind Tamarkuz in the Godolphin Mile Gr-2 last March," he added. But the Grans Stand Stables' handler declined to reveal the next target for Haatheq while the reappearance in the Godolphin Mile on the big night would be an obvious option.
"We will see he would come out of the race and talk to the owner Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, though I believe the main race in a couple of weeks remains one of our choices," he added.
The winning trainer Paul Hanagan commented: "Haatheq has been always going well and he likes the hilly track. His first win when he came from Europe was over a shorter period at the same venue, and from Jebel Ali he has started his UAE campaign," Hanagan noted.
However, the six-race card started early in the afternoon with a TB Maiden race contested over a mile which was won by Fai'z after struggling for six years to strike. Erwan Charpy who look after the gelding was delighted to see his horse winning his first race at Jebel Ali.
"This time Fai'z has successfully broken the maiden. He is a good horse and was coming very close in most of his starts and fortunately he able to drop his first on the line this time out. He is seven years old and there is more to come from him as he has tasted now the flavor of victory and hopefully he will enjoy it," the Frenchman said.
Tides Rise made every step a winning one under Fredrick Tylicki to beat the mount of Xavier Ziani, Rich And Righteous in the 1,800m Emirates Holidays Handicap, the second race on the card.
In the fourth race, a 1,400m Emirates Skywards Handicap, Just A Penny cruised to an easy victory in the hands of Pat Dobbs, for the Red Stables trainer Doug Watson while Musabah Al Muhairi has saddled the winners in the fifth and sixth races respectively.
Fernando Jara partnered Conform With Fact in the 1,200m Emirates Airline Handicap and Paul Hanagan completed a double onboard Dairam in the 1,000m Arabian Adventures final race of the afternoon.