Oaks winning owner Dobbs rides at Abu Dhabi today Those looking away from the domestic action today will notice Enniscorthy’s Pat Dobbs with a couple of mounts at Abu Dhabi, Rayig in the 3.30 and Alfolk in the 4.00. There’s nothing unusual about that seeing as Dobbs has been going out to ride in Dubai each winter for many years. He’s been stable jockey to Doug Watson for the past eight years. Watson trains Rayig and Alfolk and himself and the Wexford man have had a fair bit of success together with Second Summer’s win in the Godolphin Mile at the Dubai Wold Cup being the highlight. Dobbs is based near Andover in Hampshire where he’s employed by the powerful Richard Hannon outfit and a total of 64 winners represented his best seasonal total. Away from horse racing Dobbs has always enjoyed his greyhound racing, introduced to that sport through his uncles Eddie, John and Mick. He has struck gold in that sphere in recent times as an owner, his bitch Ballymac Beanie winning the Sporting Press Irish Oaks at Shelbourne Park. She’s since followed up at the Winter Racing Festival at HQ and Dobbs owns her with brother Alan, and his wife Ciara Vereker. Alan has success in the point-to-point sphere as a handler and rider under his belt, and in most recent times has been associated with the Joseph O’Brien set-up. They sourced Ballymac Beanie at 14 months from Liam Dowling, through Damien Gleeson who sells the Ardmore greyhound products. There are five courses out in the United Arab Emirates and the fixture list gets very busy after Christmas. Dobbs won the Wokingham on Dandy Boy, the Coronation Cup on Pether’s Moon and Richard Hughes has been a great mentor. After a fourth place finish in the 1000 Guineas an ambition of his is to land an English classic.
