Richard Mills rides Snaafy to victory in Jebel Ali Mile

The jockey took Snaafy to the front 300 metres in and was never challenged by the chasing pack.

Snaafy, ridden by jockey Richard Mills, took the lead in the early going and breezed to an easy victory in the Jebel Ali Mile yesterday.

Hills took Snaafy to the front 300 metres into the race and was never challenged. He won by almost five lengths over the second-placed horse, Atlantic Brave. Escape Route was third.

Snaafy is owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum and trained by Musabah al Muhairi.

"We know the horse likes Jebel Ali and had a big chance. He has won that nicely," racing manager Ali al Muhairi said. "Richard said he was always confident and the horse picked up well. We will have to go back to the Dubai Racing Carnival now and he does seem better on turf than [the all-weather surface] at Meydan."

Sheikh Hamdan also had a winner in the opening 1,200m race with Serhaal, who was ridden by Mills and trained by Ali Rashid al Raihe.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum had two winners, with Kieren Fallon wearing his yellow silks to victory on Mannjal in a 1,200m handicap and Dahteer in a 1,400m handicap.

Both have fared well at Jebel Ali - Mannjal won for the eighth time and Dahteer for the fifth time.

"We have given Mannjal a break and freshened him up after his two previous runs this season," trainer Dhruba Selvaratnam said. "It seems to have worked. Dahteer has been running well without much luck and deserved that victory."

Lord Ego won a 1,400m handicap under Pat Dobbs for trainer Doug Watson, and Submariner, ridden by Carlos Sandoval for Abdulla bin Huzaim, won an 1,800m handicap.

The race card had been postponed last week because of sandstorms.