Egan swoops on Deep Intrigue to land the spoils in Al Wasmiya Cup
Deep Intrigue won five races for Mark Johnston back in the UK and was bought to race in Dubai by Fawzi Nass towards the end of 2020. After a handful of below par efforts over 7-furlongs and 1-mile at the end of last year, Fawzi Nass transferred the son of Dark Angel to Bahrain. Today was his first start over 6-furlongs since being in the UK and his victory came as a surprise to Nass.
Fawzi Nass said: “Deep Intrigue arrived four weeks ago. He’s had a long journey from Dubai. He came by road which took 30 hours. It was a nice surprise that he won today. We’re absolutely delighted to win another Bahrain Turf Series race. The sprint races are always more difficult as not always the best horse wins. He’s probably a 7f horse, but the fact the race is ran over the straight course and they went fast enough, that helped him a lot.”
Having nearly been without a ride, Egan was a jockey in demand. The Michael Bell-trained Natural Path needed a jockey and Bell’s son and assistant Nick tried to persuade Egan to ride his horse but was unsuccessful. Fawzi Nass joked afterwards: “Nick Bell tried to nick David Egan off me for his horse since we were first reserve initially. Luckily, David (Egan) opted to ride Deep Intrigue for us.”
David Egan has enjoyed a memorable 18 months internationally with big race successes in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, but it has been Bahrain where he’s been based during the British winters and the 22-year-old has consistently ridden winners for Fawzi Nass.
“It’s fantastic for the team. To get another Bahrain Turf Series race on the board is great. He wore a visor today and I thought he wasn’t going to jump off for a second. He stood in the stalls for a stride and then he jumped and caught up. They went hard early, and I was at the back of the field. When I got the gap up the stands side rail, the rest of the field were stopping but we were only starting to get going. He has proven stamina over a mile at Meydan, so it worked out well and he galloped right through the line. Six or seven furlongs will suit him well here in Bahrain.”
When asked about how close he was to not having a ride in the race, Egan said: “Thank god they do have a reserve system in Bahrain because in other jurisdictions we wouldn’t have had a reserve and he wouldn’t have got in.”
Egan also paid tribute to Fawzi Nass and Hesham Al Haddad’s training operation, he said: “Fawzi Nass and Hesham Al Haddad are second to none, not only in Bahrain but worldwide. Their system, their facilities and Fawzi’s operation has been phenomenal in putting Bahrain on the map.”
Despite the European horses proving to be unsuccessful once again in the Bahrain Turf Series, there was a welcome success for British trainer Michael Bell on the undercard. Ace Rothstein had finished a creditable 5th in the Al Muharraq Cup behind Mars Landing in December and built on that performance to win the Local Grade 2 Al Adiyat Cup under an excellent ride from Charlie Bishop who landed a treble on the day with victories aboard Alejandro and First Edition.
Final Finishing Positions:
Al Wasmiya Cup
- Deep Intrigue
- Roman River
- Dark Shadow
- Laieth
- Wonder Elzaam
- Happy Craf
- Natural Path
- Desert Gulf
- Nebo
- Ocean Star
- Graphite Storm
- Teenar
- Koolasice
- Ibn Arabi
- Aleko
- Swindler
- Jack The Truth
- Peerless
Embed interview with Fawzi Nass & David Egan: https://youtu.be/ezbFTL6njdI
Download (clean) interview with Fawzi Nass & David Egan: https://we.tl/t-DcYjEfru6p