Review - Newbury 26th June 2007 :
By Paul Simmons
The
Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club Handicap
Stakes 0-90 over 1 Mile 2 Furlongs:
They were quickly away from the starting stalls with Operatic
settling into the lead, with Paul De Faust, Deolali settled midfield
with Estival settled at the rear of the field with jockey Sam
Holdsworth seemingly caught napping. As they hit the three furlong
marker it looked as if the gallant handicapper Operatic was going
to pull off his biggest win to date, but Paul De Faust and Deolali
were forging up through the center of the track head to head
and they fought a gallant battle all the way to the line with
it going down to a photo finish. In the end Paul De Faust (Al
Sakbe x Gabie De Carrere) just held on for HH Sheikh Hamdan by
a short head from Deolali (Khairouan x Operetta). Back in third
was Estival (Khairoaun x Viny De Passerrat) who was given a hard
task from the start, settled in the rear she had ten lengths
to make up on the field and to her credit used her blinding turn
of foot to plough through the field in the last three furlongs
and was flying when she was nearly floored by Mack The Knife;
the fact that she was only beaten a length and a half at the
line into third shows what tough and talented mare she is. After
this gutsy win Paul De Faust represents the best UK chance of
landing the Derby, whilst Deolali was unlucky not to get up at
the post and his turn is near; both he and Estival are names
to remember for Dubai Day.