ELJADDAAF won his third race of the year last night and his ninth in his career to bring up £1/2 million in prize money for the stable for the fourth year running.
The 7yo son of Shamardal, described as a veteran in the Racing Post analysis, loves the all-weather and in particular Chelmsford. All of his nine victories have been on an artificial surface with five of them at the Essex track. However, he’s relatively lightly raced for a 7yo as he’s had just 34 starts, not having made his debut until the age of four.
Bred by Shadwell Stud and from the family of 1989 2000 Guineas and Derby winner, Nashwan, he was initially in training with Saeed bin Suroor but never made the racecourse. After joining Harper Lodge Farm, he soon made up for lost time winning five times in 2016.
Last night in a good quality sprint handicap over 6f, the 9/2 second favourite, Eljaddaaf, was held up early by Jack Duern but made progress up the inside two furlongs out, moved in on the leaders a furlong from home and ran on to win by a neck from Watchable.
The bay gelding has been a great servant to the yard for the last three seasons. Congratulations to owners, Wentdale Ltd and Mrs L A Ivory. Apparently, the latter has a close association with the yard!
Yesterday’s win was the fourth this month and was the 34th this year. Beating last year’s total of £900,000 was always going to be a tall order as over half of the prize money was accounted for by Librisa Breeze’s Group One Champions Sprint victory and Lancelot Du Lac’s Stewards’ Cup success. Nevertheless, reaching £1/2 million prize money again is a great achievement.
There are still plenty more horses to race during before the end of the year and with the yard in good form, hopefully more winners to come!