Emirati trainer Musabah Al Muhairi celebrates birthday with double at Meydan

Musabah Al Muhairi celebrated his birthday with a double at Meydan’s second meeting on Friday to get off the mark for the season.

6pm: Baniyas – Group 2 (PA) Dh97,500 (Dirt) 1,400mWinner: AF Alajaj, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)

6.35pm: The Pointe – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,200mWinner: Awasef, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

7.10pm: Palm West Beach – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,400mWinner: Long Kiss, Jose da Silva, Antonio Cintra

7.45pm: The View at the Palm – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,200mWinner: Ranaan, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar

8.20pm: Nakheel – Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,400mWinner: Raaeb, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi

8.55pm: The Club – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,900mWinner: Qareeb, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson

9.30pm: Palm Beach Towers – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,600mWinner: Falsehood, Adrie de Vries, Musabah Al Muhairi

The Emirati trainer’s stable jockey, Antonio Fresu, rode Raaeb to victory in the handicap run over the 1,400-metre trip for horses rated 90 to 105, before Adrie de Vries won the concluding handicap on Falsehood to complete the double.

Raaeb, making his dirt debut after four turf starts at Meydan last season, looked a natural on the surface. The homebred five year old, in the silks of Shadwell, powered clear in the final 200m to come home three and-a-half lengths clear of Island Rule in the most valuable prize of the seven-race card.

“That is great to have a winner on my birthday and this is a nice new horse to have in the yard and one we hope to campaign at the carnival. He obviously handled the dirt and we have turf options with him also,” Al Muhairi said.

Previously trained by Saeed bin Suroor for Godolphin, Raaeb won three times on all-weather surfaces in Britain and also