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Meanwhile, the Gr-3 race over 2400m has attracted competative field of quality horses from France, Italy, KSA, Qatar and UAE lining up for the Euro 15,000 prizemoney.
Murhib began well while Badad was a little slow to go as the horses left the stalls in the early stages of the race. But, Badad responded keenly when asked the question by jockey Charles Nora and tracked the winner with less than 400m to go. Unfortunately, Badad was only unlucky to lose by a short head when the two horses went strike for strike before crossing the finish line. Saudi contender Jallab Al Khalediyah took the third place honours for HRH Prince Khaled bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
The winner covered the distance in 2:16:04 seconds.
Ali thani Al Suwaidi, UAE ambassador to Holland,obaid hamoud al suwaidi the consul and Sultan Al Marzouqi, Adnan Al Nuaimi and Lara Sawaya, managing director of Tasweeq gave away the prizes and trophies to the winners of the exciting race.
In the second race, Sharima under the hands of jockey Adre D'Fraize, made all the running to win the Abu Dhabi Championship-Hydra trophy for three-year-olds in great style. The French-bred filly showed her class as top performer to lead the race from the wire to the wire to the delight of the big crowd which fancied Sharima to win it.
The UAE ambassador thanked His Highness the President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Lt. General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Shaikh Dr. Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of the UAE Equestrian & Racing Federation for their strong support to promote the Purebred Arabian horse in Europe and elsewhere.
"It's a national pride for us to see the flag of the UAE flying in the skies of Europe. The series of the President Cup for Purebred Arabian horses have positively contributed to the promotion of the image of this noble creature. It's not a matter of a beautiful horse who is acquired for his beauty and stamina alone, but he has the qualities and speed of a racing horse," he said.
Al Suwaidi noted that most of the European-based Purebred Arabian horses take part in the series and the owners, trainers and jockeys have the strong feeling that very soon the Purebred Arabian horse will become a major player in the racing community.
The same opinion was echoed by Sultan Al Marzouqi, secretary general of the UAE Equestrian & Racing Federation and Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, general manager of the Abu Dhabi Equestrian & Racing Club.
On his part, Sulieman Al Fahim, CEO of Hydra Properties pledged to carry the image of the Purebred Arabian horse to the highest heights reiterating that they are obliged to stand behind and support the efforts of the youth and sports sectors.
"As a national and leading business concern, Hydra Property will make every move to ensure the success of the series and all other plans to promote UAE and the emirate of Abu Dhabi," he said.
Lara Sawaya, managing director of Tasweeq, said they highly appreciate the role of their partners in achieving all this success.
"The sky is the limit and the future is wide open for more success and achievements," she said.
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