Thaydah Athbah and Tadhg O’Shea put in an impressive performance to win the Wathba Stallion Cup Novice Stakes by nine and a half lengths at Royal Windsor this evening. The four-year-old filly was recording her second career win for Phil Collington and Athbah Racing, coasting home ahead of Victoria and Callum Hutchinson, with Coljani partnered by Mohammed Tabti in third.
O’Shea commented, “She’s a very nice filly, I said to Phil it would have taken a very good filly to beat her tonight, she was ultra-impressive. She’s big, with loads of scope, and very straightforward, they’ll be plenty of improvement to come, she’ll be even better going over further.”
Collington said, “It was lovely to see her have a perfect sit and what we talked about before the race was just to see her lengthen up the straight, which is exactly what she did. Tadhg said she really stretched for him, the further she goes the better she goes, it’s another stepping-stone towards Doncaster and the UK Derby which is still very much the objective.”
This was the second of eight races sponsored under the banner of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival, which also includes the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup (Gr3PA), which this year has a prize fund increase to £20,000.
Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival said, “The Festival sponsors 153 races globally in 2023 as well as the World Arabian Horse Racing Forum and the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown which is held in Abu Dhabi in December. The Festival is delighted to be back at Royal Windsor supporting the Arabian Racing Organisation and we congratulate the winners today.”
Genny Haynes, ARO Chief Executive Officer said, “ARO congratulates Athbah Racing and all of the Collington team on their win with Thaydah Athbah. We are also delighted to see ten times UAE Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea back riding Arabians in the UK.
“We are also pleased to see the that all the horses that lined up this evening were homebreds as the HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival’s Wathba Stallions Cup races are so important to support our breeders and we are very grateful to the Festival for their continued patronage of our racing in the UK.
“We also thank Baker McVeigh International for sponsoring the Best Turned Out Award won by Sue Wileman for Coljani,”
