Having fought her way back into the saddle from a freak accident nearly two years ago that nearly spelled the end of her career, jockey Chantal Sutherland is warmly embracing the opportunity to partner with her old mate Super Chow, a rough chance in a white-hot renewal of the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m) this weekend.
A provisional field of 13 has been assembled for the Dubai Golden Shaheen, with the headline-writers ready to proclaim a match between the pride of Dubai, Tuz, and G1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (1200m) hero Straight No Chaser
Sutherland, 49, wintered in Dubai this year, working with trainer Bhupat Seemar and his team at Zabeel Stables.
“It’s been amazing. Dubai is such a beautiful place,” Sutherland said on Monday at Meydan trackwork. “Bhupat is world-class, he’s an incredible trainer and manager and the whole team is just so fun to be around.”
On Saturday, Sutherland reunites with the six-year-old Super Chow, aboard whom she has won five times from six rides – four in stakes company – for trainer Jorge Delgado. To say she is looking forward to it would be an understatement.
“It’s a huge opportunity and I am grateful to [owner Lea Farms] Bill and Paula Cosgrove and to [trainer] Jorge [Delgado] for his loyalty and being such a great supporter of mine,” she said.
Though the task at hand is daunting, facing the likes of defending champion Tuz and GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Straight No Chaser, Sutherland is confident her mount is as good as he can be.
“Super Chow is doing really well, I breezed him, he’s strong, healthy and really happy and I guess that’s all we can really ask for,” she said. “Just have to see how it all plays out.”
Sutherland said that Super Chow, who made the Gulfstream Park Sprint his eighth career black-type success, has plenty of personality to match his considerable ability.
“He is a character,” she offered. “He is very serious when he wants to be, but he can be a little bit playful and you have to be careful because he’ll try [to] bite sometimes. He’s nice, he loves to roll in the sand, he does everything in stride, never panics, never gets too strong.
“He does his job well. He likes to be around people, he does have a masseuse that comes around and he loves cuddles. But when it comes to work, he’s straightforward and has a lot of grit and a lot of heart.”
Once the racing season concludes in the Emirates, Sutherland will head back to America to ride first-call for Delgado at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
“I’ve kind of been on holiday here, but I look forward to riding full time again and work hard for people,” she said. A strong Golden Shaheen run from Super Chow would make for the perfect ending to her working holiday.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to overestimate the impact Queen Azteca’s UAE Oaks win had on jockey Carlos Lopez.
The race might only have been a Group 3, but it was huge for Chilean-born Lopez and his adopted homeland, the racing conglomerate of Scandinavia. The jockey has won nine Derbies and – in his words – “all the big races in Scandinavia,” but Queen Azteca’s reeling in of pacesetter Arigatou Gozaimasu by a dramatic three-quarters of a length on Feb.21 was a career highlight.
“It was amazing, exciting,” says the 43-year-old, who moved to Denmark from Chile in 2000. “When the horse in front of me took off on the bend I thought I wasn’t going to catch her, but my filly was very brave and she caught her on the line.
“The Oaks is my biggest win. I won a Group 3 in Germany, too, but this is very special – I have it in my heart.”
Of the Niels Petersen-trained Queen Azteca, who was purchased by her trainer and Edgar Byrne at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale for just 30,000gns, he adds: “She’s so calm normally but she’s a fighter and she has character. When she gets angry, she gets angry!”
Queen Azteca will need that fighting spirit and much more when she takes on a field of colts in the G2 UAE Derby (sponsored by Jumeirah) on April 5. She will be the lone Scandinavian on the card, and a first ride on the big night for Lopez.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
