Crisfords earn 2nd Zabeel Mile gong

DUBAI – The father-and-son training team of Simon and Ed Crisford claimed their second Group 2 Zabeel Mile in a row, when Quddwah won the 1,600m feature at Meydan’s first Dubai Racing Carnival meeting of 2026 on Jan 2.

Following Poker Face’s win in 2025, Quddwah faced a strong field in the 850,000-dirham (S$297,000) feature, including Godolphin’s Group 2 winner Aomori City and David O’Meara’s Group 1 winner Audience.

The latter made a bold showing, charging clear in the straight under Daniel Tudhope, but was met at the 200m mark by Quddwah, who strode away for 1¼-length win over the closing Aomori City (William Buick), with Audience staying on for third.

“It was quite a sweet race to ride in. I had a load of space to go when I wanted, which was nice,” said jockey James Doyle, who also won the race in 2020 on Zakouski.

“He’s been very consistent over the years and gets his head in front when he needs to. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden him, I won on him first time and we were quite sweet on him then too.”

On the potential of Quddwah emulating his dam Sajjhaa, winner of the Group 1 Dubai Turf (formerly Dubai Duty Free) in 2013, he added: “It would be a notch up from the runners he faced tonight, with Japanese contenders and all that, but I’m sure he’d run his race.”

Ed Crisford confirmed bigger targets are on the horizon for the six-year-old entire by Kingman.

“To win it the way he did was really pleasing,” he said. “He’s settled in nicely here and he has bigger and better things ahead hopefully.

“You can sort of put him where you want in a race. But at the beginning of the year, we decided to drop him in a little and it worked out well.”

The Crisfords and Doyle celebrated a double when their classy Meydaan gained his first win at the track of almost the same name in the closing 300,000-dirham Zoho Handicap, over 2,810m on turf.

The Frankel five-year-old, last seen finishing 10th in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3,200m), was too good this time. He beat two British runners in Burdett Road (Pat Cosgrave) and Nightwalker (Saffie Osborne) by two lengths and four lengths, respectively.

“He’s a very high-class horse,” said Doyle. “He didn’t run badly in Australia but was a bit stretched (by the distance) in the Melbourne Cup. He showed his quality in the straight tonight.

“The team will have a chat about what they’d like to do, but my inkling would be maybe come back in trip to a mile and a half.”

El Nasseeb continued his winning spree by beating three of his 700,000-dirham Group 3 Dubawi Stakes (1,200m) rivals in the Listed Al Garhoud Sprint (1,200m) in December and he did the same again, pouncing late to deny Mufasa in the card’s dirt feature.

Tadhg O’Shea went for home on Mufasa off the final turn and looked to have the race won. But Silvestre de Sousa had plenty of horse left and profited from his tiring rival, cruising past for a three-length win.

“I rode the race to repeat the form. I was delighted when I took him back at 1,000 metres as he likes a fast pace,” said de Sousa. “He’s a lovely horse and, once he switched leads, he really went for home.”

It was a double for de Sousa, the UAE champion jockey having earlier won the 190,000-dirham Binghatti Handicap (1,200m) on Lahfaty, for Michael Costa.

The Mitole five-year-old mare just held on from last-start winner Welcome Dream (O’Shea), giving the Australian Costa his 99th UAE winner and initiating a treble for owner HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also races Quddwah and Meydaan.

Otherwise, the Meydan meeting turned out to be a prolific night for British trainers.

Trainer Richard Spencer helped the Rebel Racing operation, which has invested plenty in Dubai this season with a team of 10 based at Meydan, collect their first winner when Two Tribes took the 300,000-dirham ARN Handicap, over 1,200m on turf.

Ridden by Billy Loughnane, for whom it was also a first Dubai winner, the Rajasinghe five-year-old held on by a head from Indian Springs (Buick).

Ed Walker then got off the mark in the UAE thanks to Northern Champion, who just got home in the 300,000-dirham Jumeirah Stakes (1,400m).

Ridden by Kieran Shoemark, who was also tasting his first UAE success, the Wootton Bassett three-year-old battled back to deny Catullus (Buick) right on the line.

Buick had better luck on the Charlie Appleby-trained Arabain Night, who took the opening 300,000-dirham Zabeel Turf (2,000m) despite racing wide from barrier 12.

The Kingman five-year-old ran on strongly once he hit the front at the 100m mark to score by ¾-length from stablemate Bedouin Prince (Loughnane).

Buick went on to ride a double, the highlight of which was Six Speed in the 300,000-dirham UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (2,810m).

On a rare ride for Bhupat Seemar, whose stable jockey O’Shea opted for Lino Padrino (fourth), the Norwegian-British jockey guided the three-year-old colt by Not This Time to a 3¾-length win over the Argentinian-bred Legalaized (Doyle), who ran a fine race on local debut, conceding weight.

The Dubai Racing Carnival continues on Jan 9, when the 350,000-dirham Lord North Handicap (1,800m) is the feature race. DUBAI RACING CLUB