Australian Group One winner Mental has won the Group Three Al Shindagha Sprint in Dubai at his first overseas start.
Trained in Australia by Peter Snowden, Mental won the Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington in November before being transferred to owner Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin team.
After a slow start, Mental was was ninth of the 14 runners coming into the straight.
Under hard riding from Mickael Barzalona, he ran on strongly to get to the front in the closing stages and win going away by a length.
“The way he won suggests that Mental is a good horse,” new trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni said.
“He was too far back at the beginning and I thought that he had little chance. Usually in a sprint, if you are that far back, then you cannot win but they went a nice pace for him.
“He was giving weight to the rest of the field and I think that we will have some fun with him.
“I wasn’t sure about him on Tapeta but he showed that he is fine on it. We could have kept him on grass but I like doing things differently and thought we should try him on Tapeta because of the Golden Shaheen (Group One) on World Cup night.”
Mental’s win came hours after Snowden racked up his 1000th winner for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Australia for which he has been head trainer since May 2008.
