REBAL ATHBAH AND TOM MARQUAND WIN THE WATHBA STALLIONS CUP AT ROYAL WINDSOR
Rebal Athbah and Tom Marquand gave UK Arabian racing an exciting start to their new season when winning the Wathba Stallions Cup (0-70) Handicap by three quarters of a length from Awtaar and Hollie Doyle. Bin Al Reeh and Marco Ghiani were a further six and half lengths back in third. Doyle and Awtaar had set a good pace in front, however they were joined by Rebal Athbah and Marquand in the home straight with first two home battling all the way to the line, with Rebal Athbah winning in a time of 1.52.32.
After the race Marquand said: “He’s still a bit green and still learning, but he did what he had to do. To bump into much more experienced horses, round a tricky enough track, he’s done well to win today, so hopefully they’ll be more to come from him.
“Thanks to support of Sheikh Mansoor in the early part of my career, I got the chance to go down to Australia and ride for David Hayes and Tom Dabernig and rode a few winners for Shadwell whilst I was there. Things spiralled and I’ve since been fortunate to have quite a bit of success there since.”
Trainer Phil Collington was delighted with Rebal Athbah’s performance saying: “We’ve learnt a lot more about him, it’s great that he’s won. Tom feels that a step up in trip would be beneficial, he’ll improve again from this.”
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