Skygazer wins Chengdu Dubai International Cup at Jinma Lake Racecourse

The winner was ridden by Royston Ffrench, who was claiming his second Chengdu Dubai International Cup after his victory in the same race in 2014, while the meeting’s inaugural jockeys’ challenge went in favour of the international riders by a 28-20 points scoreline.

The victory was particularly sweet and some sort of redemption for Skygazer after crossing the finishing line first in the same race 12 months ago but without his rider.

However with Ffrench at the helm this time, the pair never looked like being caught after the five-year-old gelding took the lead 400 metres from the winning post, holding off Starlight, the mount of Adrie De Vries, in a close finish. Satish Seemar’s Start Right was half a length behind at the line, while UAE champion trainer Doug Watson took third with Diwaan.

Ffrench’s mount from 2014 was also back in the money in Sunday’s second race, the Meydan Handicap over 2418 metres. Mutual Force, a winner over 2200 metres at Abu Dhabi Racecourse this season, was partnered this time by Dutch jockey, Adrie de Vries, who with four wins across four meetings at Jinma Lake is the leading jockey of the Chengdu Dubai International Cup meeting.

Having been established four years ago to strengthen ties between China and the UAE, The Chengdu Dubai International Cup race meeting again took place in the Wenjiang District of Chengdu and featured horses, jockeys and trainers from Dubai Racing Club. There was a total prize purse of RMB 3,750,000 on offer for this joint venture between Meydan Group, Sichuan Provincial Government, Chengdu Municipal Government, the Wenjiang District Government and China Guangsha Group.

For the first time the race meeting featured an international jockeys’ challenge which was played out over two races on the card, the Wenjiang Sprint and the Guangsha Handicap. A group of five Chinese jockeys – Bate Bayier, Ma Liankai, Wang WenXun, Yu Xuewen and Chen YI, spent time riding out for Dubai Racing Club trainers in Dubai during the 2016-17 season before returning to Chengdu for the raceday.

They came up against nine jockeys who rode during the 2016-17 Dubai Racing Club season including Adrie de Vries from Holland, Pat Dobbs and Marc Monaghan from Ireland, Sam Hitchcott, Adam McLean and Royston Ffrench from the UK, South Africa’s Bernard Fayd’Herbe, Jesus Rosales from Argentina and France’s Gerald Avranche.

Twelve points were awarded for a win, six for second, four for third and two for fourth.

The opening contest on the five-race all turf card, the 1400 metre Wenjiang Sprint, was also the first leg of the jockeys’ challenge and was won by Chinese rider, Wenxun Wang on Damar, trained by Maria Ritchie. In doing so, Damar was recording consecutive victories at Jinma Lake having landed the same race in 2016 and was the first of two wins for Ritchie on the day.

She doubled up with victory in the concluding Wenjiang-Meydan Classic over a distance of a mile thanks to Muhtaram, ridden by Jesus Rosales.

The 1600 metre Guangsha Handicap was the second and concluding leg of the jockeys’ challenge which saw the maximum 12 points won by Irish rider, Pat Dobbs on the Satish Seemar-trained, Sky Jockey.