Newmarket 12th July
By Paul Simmons

Track: Good to Firm

The President of the UAE International Challenge Derby Group 1 over
1 Mile 2 Furlongs:
1. Robbie A De Vries
1. Al Dahma D Bouland
3. Kandar Du Falgas R Hills

Distances: dead heat, 1 ½ 6 ran Time: 02:19:29

Winner – Robbie – Owned and bred by Mrs. G Kok. Trained by Mr. A Trybuhl(GER)
Winner – Al Dahma – Owned and bred by HH Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani
Trained by M A De Mieulle (FR).

A strong renewal of the Derby but the field was reluctant to sort a pace setter and Mistral Del Sol from the Netherlands eventually set the running with 6/4 favourite Al Dahma (Amer x Al Hanoof) and Robbie settled in behind. Kandar Du Falgas was sent to the front by Richard Hills from the five furlong marker but Al Dahma and Robbie (Makzan x Naira) were cruising in behind, eventually making their move inside the final furlong and quickening clear out of the dip. French raider Al Dahma and German based Robbie were nip and tuck all the way to the line in a thrilling finish to dead heat for the Derby. Kandar Du Falgas (Kesberoy x Djoulia Du Falgas) was another length and a half back in third and lost nothing in defeat, whilst the rest of the field were well beaten.