Favourite So Big Is Better won the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup Arabian Stakes while French amateur Marie Rolando steered Lil Rich Girl to a superb win in the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship IFAHR race at the Fairplex Park in Los Angeles today.

The two races were part of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival with the ladies race creating history as the first-ever to be held in LA.

In a nine-horse field chasing the prize fund of US$ 30,000, jockey Jesus Agosto Velazguez managed to stave off the young challenger Ayers under Barrington Harvey with Luis Medina finishing third on Chollyroger SWA.

So Big Is Better took 1:59.11 to in the 1700-metre dirt contest and jockey Velazquez said the workouts on the track here helped a lot. “He ran a good race today and we have been doing our workouts here for and that helped,” said Velazquez after his win in the Stakes event.

But the loudest cheers of the afternoon at the Fairplex Park were for the 27-year-old French horse insurance agent and amateur jockey Marie Rolando.

In the 7-furlong race restricted to mares and fillies, Rollando followed the trainer Ken Danyluk’s instructions and struck success with Lil Rich Girl winning in style and hot favourite Ms Dixie in third behind TM Maddamme. It was a 1-2 for Danyluk and Rolando, who will now appear in the Championship finale in Abu Dhabi, was elated.

“The trainer asked me to keep him in front and that was an easy thing to do and once we approached home he was too good. I ride in Chantilly where I am based and this is a different experience and I am so happy to have scored my biggest win,” the French jockey said.

Abdulla Ali Al Saboosi, the UAE’s Consul General in Los Angeles; Dr. Wadooda Badran, Advisor of the Arab Women Organisation and Lulwa Alawadhi, member of the Bahraini Consultative Council and Ms Lara Sawaya, Director of HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and Head of International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) for Ladies Racing along with other US Arabian racing officials attended and gave away the trophies for the two races.

The UAE envoy Al Saboosi said, “This is a great start to the Festival’s debut in Los Angeles and I am confident that the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival will make a huge impact on Arabian racing in the region.”

“It was heartening to see another new winner in the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship IFAHR race series. This reflects the depth of the series and we now move to Stockholm in Sweden for the next leg of the Festival’s races,” Ms Sawaya said.

The HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival is organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and co-ordinated by Abu Dhabi Sports Council in association with Emirates Racing Authority, IFAHR and Emirates Arabian Horse Society, supported by General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare and Fegentri with Emirates airlines as the official carrier and sponsored by Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), Invest AD, Arabtec Holding PJSC, Al Rashid Investment, Areej Al Ameerat, Al Awani General Enterprises, Kabale, Al Wathba Centre, the UAE’s General Women’s Union, the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy, Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2013, Dr. Nader Saab Switzerland, Wathba Stud Farm, Al Wathba Center, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, Eastern Mangroves Hotel and SPA and Eastern Mangroves Suites-Abu Dhabi by Jannah.