thirteen runners behind Danon Premium, Lys Gracieux, Air Windsor and Persian Knight. Ikee felt that the horse was unsuited by the "shifty" ground but admitted "He does have a difficult side and, mentally, things won't change". On 31 March at Hanshin Al Ain (equipped with blinkers) was ridden by Yuichi Kitamura when he started at odds of 21.2/1 in his second attempt to win the Osaka Hai. Blast Onepiece started favourite in a fourteen-runner field which also included Kiseki, Persian Knight, Wagnerian, Air Windsor (Challenge Cup), Stelvio, Sungrazer (Sapporo Kinen), Epoca d'Oro and Makahiki. Kitamura settled the horse on the inside behind the leaders as Epoca d'Oro set a steady pace from Kiseki. As the field entered the straight Al Ain made a forward move to take the lead 200 metres from the finish and kept on well to win by a neck from Kiseki with Wagnerian another neck away in third. After the race Kitamura commented "We had a good draw and everything worked to our advantage. He was able to focus using the blinkers and he responded well so I just concentrated on keeping him comfortable". Al Ain's next appearance saw him made the 7.4/1 fifth choice in the betting for the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin on 23 June. He ran in third place for most of the way in a strongly-run race but was unable to make any significant progress in the straight and finished fourth behind Lys Gracieux, Kiseki and Suave Richard. He returned for an autumn campaign but made no impact in three races. He finished fourteenth behind Almond Eye in the Temmo Sho, sixteenth to Indy Champ in the Mile Championship and eleventh behind Lys Gracieux in the Arima Kinen. Al Ain was retired from racing at the end of the year. Pedigree References 2014 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Japan Racehorses trained in Japan Thoroughbred family 2-s