Nations Pride shows plenty of promise in Jumeirah Derby

Progressive three-year-old Nations Pride completed a hat-trick of victories with an impressive display in the Jumeirah Derby at Meydan, UAE, on Friday, 25 February.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Teofilo colt, successful on the all-weather in the UK on his final two juvenile appearances, was slightly slow into his stride and raced in fifth early on before moving up a place after the first quarter-mile.

New Kingdom travelled wide in second before easing over to track Pjerrot with three-quarters of a mile to race and the son of Dubawi took up the running turning in. Nations Pride also made good progress approaching the straight and stayed on powerfully down the lane, heading New Kingdom a furlong and a half out before forging clear in the closing stages to score by three and a quarter lengths under James Doyle.

New Kingdom kept on after being passed by Sed Maarib inside the final furlong to finish third, beaten four and a half lengths in total in the newly established 10-furlong turf contest.

James Doyle said: “Nations Pride did really well, considering that was only his fourth run and New Kingdom had the benefit of a run whereas our horse had been off a long time.

“Nations Pride just missed the break having been a bit of a handful going down – he was quite fresh and this should settle him down.

“He was a little raw on the turn and got a bit lost but warmed into it nicely and knuckled down well when he felt the second coming to join him.

“It was a nice performance and he should come on leaps and bounds for it. He will definitely stay as he relaxes well in the run.

“In his first three runs, he did not get to experience a whole lot. Lingfield was a small field and it was the same again at Chelmsford on tight tracks whereas this was completely unknown for him. I thought he took that stride forward quite nicely.

“He will have to keep progressing to run in the races that he has ahead of him but he has the right mindset and there is no reason why he can’t.”