Delight for Dubai Hills
Dubai Hills (D MacAuliffe, A Don & D De Souza), so often the bridesmaid, finally got the win he deserved after eleven attempts at Pontefract under Jason Hart. Frustratingly, this horse has always shown ability at home from day one and we very much had high hopes for him as a two year old. On debut, he finished second to Ramatuelle at Chantilly and followed this up over the course of last year with a fourth at Goodwood, a 6th in the Group 3 Prix Du Bois, 2nd at Windsor and 4th in the Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes. As you can see, we had no doubts over ability it has always been a question of how to get him to transfer it to a racecourse.
His first two starts of 2024 were encouraging finishing third at Newcastle and then 2nd at Lingfield. He then ran at Thirsk on heavy ground which was not to his liking and could only finish fifth. Although the ground at Pontefract was given as soft we were hopeful that he could still act on the surface especially as his second to Ramatuelle was on soft ground. All his best runs have been over six furlongs and, jumping smartly from the gates, he dictated the pace along with Marco Botti’s horse, Marie Ellen, up until the home turn. Jason then made the decisive move to kick for the winning line coming out of the bend and soon found himself gradually pulling clear of the field to win by 3 ½ lengths. With any luck, he has hopefully found the winning groove to his liking and there will be more future visits to the winner’s enclosure.
Back to listing