Adrie de Vries tastes more success in Abu Dhabi after Super Saturday show

Scandinavian champion jockey rides a double in the capital

Ottoman, ridden by Adrie de Vries, won the Group 3 Arabian Triple Crown R2 at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club. Courtesy ERA

Celebrations continued for a second successive night for Scandinavian champion jockey Adrie de Vries.

He followed up his first thoroughbred Group 1 winner at Meydan’s Super Saturday meeting by riding a double, including the Group 3 Arabian Triple Crown Round-2, in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

He rode Ibrahim Aseel’s Ashton Tourette to victory in the Wathba Stallions Cup handicap and completed the double with an all-the-way success atop Abdallah Al Hammadi’s Ottoman.

Ottoman was fourth behind stable companion Hameem, who was ridden by De Vries to victory in the Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 over the 1,600-metre distance four weeks ago.

Over the longer 2,200m trip, Ottoman emerged a convincing winner over Dergham Athbah and Mutaqadim by three lengths and a neck, respectively.

“I have seen all of his races and he’s been running against good horses,” De Vries said of the American bred Valiant Boy colt.

“I thought the step up in the trip would suit him. They told me to have him handy. I jumped him out for an easy lead and kicked from the [final] bend and he put the race to bed pretty quickly. He’s a nice horse and just waited for this trip, I think.”

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Sheikh Mohammed at Meydan

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De Vries had earlier come from last to first in the 1,200m sprint half hour earlier, and the two winners took his tally to 22, one short of his best season in the UAE in 2017.

Szczepan Mazur, on board Omani trainer Ibrahim Al Hadhrami’s Hakeemat Muscat, clinched the Group 2 Liwa Oasis by a short head from Rawaa under Sam Hitchcott.

Antonio Fresu also rode a double on the night. The Italian took the opener on Eric Lemartinel’s Gurm and the concluding thoroughbred handicap on Musabah Al Muhairi’s Ganbaru to deny treble on the night for De Vries, who was on Satish Seemar’s Madame Ellingtina, beaten by a neck.