Qatar

Saturday's closing card of the Qatar Goodwood Festival sees the focus fall on one of Britain's most prestigious handicaps in the Stewards' Cup, with just the one pattern race being the G2 Qatar Lillie Langtry S. George Strawbridge's Free Wind (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who met with a reversal for the first time in two years when fifth in the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot, lost nothing in defeat there when fifth from a compromising position on too-fast ground. The G2 Park Hill S., G2 Lancashire Oaks and G2 Middleton...

A new logo for the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp on Oct. 1 was unveiled by France Galop on Thursday. The logo will be used from this year and going forward. More contemporary than its predecessor, the logo depicts the Arc de Triomphe monument in a nod to the heritage and historical influence of this race. It was designed by independent global design agency Seenk. The previous logo was used beginning in 2008 in celebration of the new partnership between the Arc and the Qatar Racing...

Alberto Sanna had twice previously won Qatar's biggest and richest race, the HH The Amir Trophy, but he could not contain his emotions after putting a perfect steer on former Ballydoyle inmate and now Hong Kong-based Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to take Saturday's US$2.5-million event in Doha. Sanna was himself part of the ultra-competitive collection of riders in Hong Kong for two seasons, but managed a strike rate of just 4.6%. To make matters worse, he was handed a 10-meeting suspension in late 2019 and his Hong Kong license...

Jockey Tom Marquand, who is riding a stint in Australia, fell off his mount due to interference in the A$2-million Inglis Millennium and sustained a concussion at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Marquand was riding trainer Annabel Neasham's Dorothy Gail (Aus) (Capitalist {Aus}), and was unseated by a mid-race maneuver from the Josh Parr-ridden Hellish (Aus) (Hellbent {Aus}). Parr was suspended 20 meetings for the careless riding  incident. "That was pretty horrible," Neasham, who won the race with Learning To Fly (Aus) (Justify), told SKY Thoroughbred Central. "He [Marquand] is ok,...

Noor Al Hawa (Fr) (Makfi {GB}--Majestic Roi, by Street Cry {Ire}), champion of his generation in Germany as a 3-year-old and a four-time highweighted older horse in Qatar, will enter stud in 2023 at Haras du Grand Courgeon some 25 kilometres northwest of Angers. He will command a fee of €2,300. Bred by Rabbah Bloodstock Limited, Noor Al Hawa raced in the early part of his career for Jaber Abdullah and was trained by Andreas Wohler. He came to hand at three in 2016, posting a breakthrough black-type success in...

Wrapping up Day 29 in Qatar, the final race on the Thursday card brought together a well-matched field of 3-year-old colts that were vying for a black-type prize. After a pair of scratches, out of the remaining 16 runners, Emperor Maximus proved best, but it was not a foregone conclusion that he would be able to make the leap in company after campaigning on-track at lower levels on three prior occasions. Just last week Dec. 22, the colt won a handicap against 13 others by 1 3/4 lengths, but he...

The Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) this week announced significant purse increases for the 2023 three-day racing H.H. The Amir Festival, including a boost to $2.5 million for the signature H.H. The Amir Trophy. The festival--which is set for Feb. 16-18 and falls a week before the $20 million G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack--will again be contested at Al Rayyan Racecourse. The H.H. The Amir Trophy, which was previously worth $1 million, is a 1 1/2-mile turf test for 3-year-olds and up. "Certainly, raising the value of...

   Few people left an imprint at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale quite like Olly Tait. Under the banner of the newly-formed and Qatari-backed Wathnan Racing, Tait signed for nine horses to the tune of 1.75 million gns, headed by 450,000gns purchase Persian Royal (GB) (Al Kazeem {GB}).    Fitting that Tait has been tasked with growing Wathnan Racing into a formidable ownership vehicle in Qatar as it was the Australian native who was entrusted by Godolphin to get their Darley operation off the ground down under back...

A stakes winner in England and stakes-performed in France and in Sweden, Outbox (GB) (Frankel {GB}) added a stamp from Qatar to his passport for Saturday's His Highness The Amir Trophy in Doha and walked away with the lion's share of the US$1-million in prize money on offer. The Amir Trophy is one of three races contested locall that is recognized internationally as black-type eligible. Ridden aggressively from a wide alley by Hollie Doyle, Outbox took up a pace-pressing position from second, as Qatari Gold (Lemon Drop Kid), with Tom...

It is racing's greatest dichotomy. Labelled by the official ParisLongchamp website as "la meilleure course au monde", the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will have few who brook any argument with that claim. Yet it is the time of year within which it is framed that delivers the ultimate snag, with autumn's entry prompting an often drastic change in terrain and a late turnpike for the kings and queens of summer just past. Half of the previous 10 renewals of France's great monument have been run on testing...

Making a remarkable fifth straight appearance in the marquee race on the Qatar racing calendar, the US$1-million H.H. The Amir Trophy, Al Wasmiyah Farm's Noor Al Hawa (Fr) (Makfi {GB}) took advantage of a soft trip attending a modest pace and raced away to a convincing victory Saturday in Doha. Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}), who nearly took out the 2020 G1 St Leger S., came home second ahead of last year's Qatar Derby hero Hellenistique (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in third. The Amir Trophy is one of three...

A winner at the highest level in Germany and victorious in group races in France and England, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani's homebred Aspetar (Fr) (Al Kazeem {GB}) appears the class of the field as he makes his Qatar debut in Saturday's US$1-million H H Amir Trophy (2400m) at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha. The lightly raced 6-year-old won the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly and G1 Preis von Europa in 2019 while under the care of Roger Charlton and punched his ticket to the G1 Cox Plate with...