The August Bank Holiday weekend provided some pleasing victories, with two sons of Dubai Destination landing Conditions races on the same day while Eastern Aria, a three-year-old daughter of Halling posted her sixth win of the year, breaking the track record when landing the a £40,000 handicap at Beverley.
Trained by Mark Johnston, Eastern Aria is a Darley homebred who only made her racecourse debut in February when finishing runner-up in a mile maiden at Lingfield. She won on her next start at Southwell and has since notched wins at Goodwood, Epsom, Beverley and back at Lingfield. In 13 starts, she has also been placed four times and is now officially rated 101.
Also by Halling and hailing from the Johnson stable is two-year-old Layali Al Andalus, who followed up his impressive seven-length maiden win in June with another definitive victory, this time in the valuable Blaydon Nursery at Newcastle on Bank Holiday Monday. Bred by Wood Hall Stud, Layali Al Andalus holds a raft of big-race entries towards the end of the season, which includes his probable next target, the G2 Royal Lodge on 26 September, and the G1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes.
In action at Epsom on Monday was the highly progressive Dubai Destination three-year-old Firebet, who won the ten-furlong JRA Conditions Stakes at Epsom having finished runner-up to Harbinger in the G3 Gordon Stakes on his last start. He has won six of his 11 races to date with his consistent tally for 2009 being four wins and three seconds. Firebet was bred by Derek Veitch and Saleh Ali Hammadi from the Sadler’s Wells mare Dancing Prize.
A year older but also by Dubai Destination is Taqdeyr who won his fourth race when landing the Ricoh Arena Conditions Stakes at Warwick on the same day. Bred by Darley and a half-brother to Iffraaj, who has his first yearlings at the sales this autumn, Taqdeyr finished a length-and-a-half in front of his nearest rival Khor Dubai, by Kheleyf.
