Dubawi’s nine-year-old son dominated his rivals from the start of the mile before holding on for a neck victory

Fan favorite Bochart put on a tenacious display of forward running to win the Shadwell Handicap, the headline event at Jebel Ali Racecourse’s penultimate meeting of the 2021-22 season on Saturday.

With Dubai World Cup winner Fernando Jara in irons, Dubawi’s nine-year-old son dominated his rivals from the start of the mile before holding on for a victory around Verbotim’s neck, the mount by Pat Dobbs.

Three-time Jebel Ali goalscorer Almoreb was a length and a quarter behind in third.

Bochart, who spent his early career with Godolphin, was a People’s Choice Award nominee at the HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Horse Racing Excellence Awards.

Commenting on the decision to race Bochart at Jebel Ali and over a mile, trainer Bhupat Seemar said: “He is a lovely horse. Old legs are getting a little slower, so we had to change something with him. I think he was a little tired from sprinting, so we thought we’d run him a mile and that race came up.

“He dominated like he usually does up front and he’s hard to hold back.

He is nine years old, but he still has enthusiasm in him. He’s a solid horse and he’s given us so many wins.

Jara, who had some great spare runs, added: “He seemed to be having fun up front and really tried hard for me. I am delighted with his relationships.

If Dobbs was turned down in the feature, he made no mistake earlier in teaming up with King Of The Nite to record a convincing victory in the maiden 1400m for Doug Watson. The four-year-old gelding snapped a four-game losing streak.

Winning handler Watson commented, “Pat gave him a great lap and was able to cross the rail which helped. He’s probably going to be a 1200m horse, but now we know at least he’s handling the conditions here, which opens up options.

Emirati handler Salem bin Ghadayer was the only professional to land a brace on Saturday, the first of which came with Honorable Justice in a 1,400 meter handicap. It was a second victory for the son of Majesticperfection in Jebel Ali, the first of which came in December 2020.

Ffrench said: “He did that well today and it’s good to get the lead back because he’s really consistent and rarely has a bad race.

Ffrench and bin Ghadayer completed the double in the first 1950m final, with First Of November

Earlier in the afternoon, Dignity Joy broke her maiden after 12 tries, at the hands of in-form runner Antonio Fresu. The winner was coached by Musabbeh Al Mheiri.

Fresu said: “He always had ability, this horse, but it just took a while to win with him. We had a good draw which helped and he did it well.

The only thoroughbred Arabian race on the card, the opening 1400m handicap for locally born horses, followed the path of AF Kal Noor and Tadhg O’Shea, wearing the colors of his main employer, Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda and the owner’s head trainer, Ernst Oertel.

O’Shea said: “He won well in a maiden in his only other start here and worked well here on Monday so we were expecting a big race and he didn’t disappoint.”