Qatar's joint top-rated horse The Blue Eye (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is on track for a title defence in the valuable HH the Emir's Sword following a cosy success in Thursday's QR200,000 (£45,176) Umm Qarn Cup at Al Rayyan Racetrack in Doha.
An €400,000 purchase out of the 2014 Arqana Arc Sale, the bay entire has been a revelation in Qatar under the care of Jassim Ghazali, with eight wins from his 12 local appearances, chief among them his four-length romp in the US$1-million Emir's Sword last Feb. 27. Well-beaten in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in his next appearance, he most recently returned from an April layoff to win a local Group 2 over 2000m Dec. 21.
Drawn two from the outside in gate 11, The Blue Eye showed enough speed to gain a spot handy to the pace while covered up nicely beneath Harry Bentley. Pulled out for clear sailing on the final turn of this 2200m test, The Blue Eye surged to the front a furlong and a half from the wire and was pushed out mostly hands and heels to score by a tight length while eased down in the final 30 metres (video).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
