Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 1

Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 1

Group 2 race
Location	Meydan Racecourse Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Inaugurated	1994
Race type	Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Race information
Distance	1,600 metres
Surface	Dirt
Track	Left-handed
Purse	$250,000 (2015)[1]

The Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 1, is a horse race run over a distance of 1,600 metres (1 mile) in January on dirt at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. It is the first of three races in the Al Maktoum Challenge series which serve as trial races for the Dubai World Cup.

It was first run in 1994 on dirt at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. It was transferred to Meydan in 2010 where it was run on the synthetic Tapeta Footings surface. In 2015 the synthetic surface at Meydan was replaced by a dirt track.^[2]

The race began as an ungraded stakes race before attaining Listed status in 1996. The race was elevated to Group 3 level in 2002 and became a Group 2 event in 2013.

Records

Record time:

• 1:35.48 - Spindrift (1999)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 4 - Frankie Dettori (1996, 1997, 2009, 2011)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 8 - Saeed bin Suroor (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2014)

Most wins by an owner:

• 6 - Godolphin Racing (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2009, 2014)

Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1994	Red Rainbow	6	Johnny Murtagh	Ben Hanbury	J R Ali	1:39.20
1995	Halling	4	John Carroll	Hilal Ibrahim	Godolphin	1:38.40
1996	Tamayaz	4	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:37.18
1997	Kammtarra	4	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:35.62
1998	Wathik	8	Paul Eddery	Paddy Rudkin	Saeed Al Ghandi	1:37.63
1999	Spindrift	4	Gary Hind	Saeed bin Suroor	Rashid bin Mohammed	1:35.48
2000	Siege	4	Sylvain Guillot	Saeed bin Suroor	Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum	1:35.70
2001	China Visit	4	John Carroll	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:36.12
2002	Skoozi	6	Wayne Smith	Allan Smith	Rashid bin Ahmed Al Mualla	1:35.99
2003	Estimraar	6	Wayne Smith	Mazin Al Kurdi	Rashid bin Mohammed	1:36.81
2004	State Shinto	8	Ryan Moore	Mazin Al Kurdi	Rashid bin Mohammed	1:37.37
2005	Grand Emporium	4	Weichong Marwing	Mike de Kock	A Geemooi	1:39.92
2006	Blatant	7	Richard Hills	Ismail Mohammed	Princess Haya of Jordan	1:36.71
2007	Imperialista	3	M Cardoso	Cosme Morgado	Estrela Energia Stables	1:35.96
2008	Happy Boy	4	Jose Aparecido da Silva	P Nickel Filho	Roberto A L Reichert	1:36:37
2009	My Indy	4	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:36.52
2010	Gloria de Campeao	6	Tiago Josue Pereira	Pascal Bary	Estrela Energia Stables	1:38.48
2011	Mendip	4	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum	1:36.45
2012	Musir	5	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock	Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum	1:35.85
2013	Barbecue Eddie	9	Dane O'Neill	Doug Watsom	Hamdan Al Maktoum	1:37.24
2014	Shuruq	4	Silvestre de Sousa	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:35.84
2015	Surfer	6	Richard Mullen	Satish Seemar	Zabeel Racing International	1:38.21
2016	Le Bernardin	7	Tadhg O'Shea	Ali Rashid Al Raihe	Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum	1:37.12

See also

• List of United Arab Emirates horse races

References

1. UAE races, IFHA Blue Book
2. Peter Scargill (14 May 2014). "Dirt to replace Tapeta at Meydan for next season". Racing Post.