Frankie Dettori and James Doyle were out of luck in Bahrain on Friday, with Dutch rider Adrie de Vries instead taking the honours with a big-race treble on one of the best day’s racing in the Kingdom. All three were trained by Hesham Al Haddad.
The 50-year-old world #83, who is based in Germany, won the feature race, the HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa Cup, on Port Lions, finishing two lengths ahead of world #15 Doyle’s mount Rustang, trained by expat Brit Allan Smith. World #1 Dettori was back in sixth on last year’s winner, Thorkhill Star, stablemate of the runner-up.
Dettori fared better with second on News Breaker in the other Cup, run in honour of HRH Prince Salman, which De Vries won on the Fawzi Nass-owned Pulsar. Nass and De Vries were also on the mark in the Bahrain Derby with Al Tariq, with Dettori back in third on Shawwash.
The Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club Executive Director, Sheikh Salman bin Rashed Al Khalifa, said, “The HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa Cup goes from strength to strength. We had four horses rated over 100 and it was a high-quality renewal.
“It was great to see the likes of Frankie Dettori, James Doyle, and, of course, Adrie De Vries in action. Adrie was fresh from a winner for Bahrain in Meydan on Thursday night and is riding out of his skin. We had a capacity crowd, including William Buick and Freddie Tylicki in attendance, and I was delighted with how the day went.”