Knight Shines Bright For Bahrain

A total of 27 international horses have made their way to Qatar for this year's HH The Emir's Sword Festival, with the feature race on the penultimate day of the meeting, the G2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup, attracting runners from South Africa, Oman, Bahrain and the UK.

Richard Hannon fielded arguably the most accomplished challenger in British Group 3-placed Moheet (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), but Frankie Dettori's mount had to settle for third place behind his former stablemate Baltic Knight (Ire) (Baltic King), who swept down the centre of the track with a rattling late run under Duran Fentiman to claim the spoils by a half-length from Roman Legend (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The result gave ITM, in its second year of sponsorship at the meeting, a clean sweep of Irish-breds in the winner's enclosure.

The winner, now owned by Ebrahim Al Afoo, left the Hannon team last year after being bought at Tattersalls' Horses-in-Training Sale for 20,000gns to join the stable of Badr Al Abid, who trains 16 horses in Bahrain. The 6-year-old won six races in the UK, including the Listed Ganton S. at York in 2013.

His trainer said, “I have a sixth sense with horses and I liked this one as soon as I saw him when I went to Newmarket with the owner to buy him. I was second in this race last year so I am very pleased to come here this time to win it.”

“When we bought Baltic Knight he was in good condition, and he has settled very well in Bahrain and is a very straightforward horse–a child could ride him,” Al Abid added. “He was second on his first start for me but he needed that run.”

The day's racing had begun in fine style for the team from ITM when the former British-trained listed winner Bronze Maquette (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) increased her tally of race victories to eight from 17 starts by winning the Thoroughbred Fillies and Mares Handicap.

ITM Chief Executive Charles O'Neill explained, “Qatar is a huge market for European-bred horses and many Irish-breds have come here and run well. That's why we're here–and it's really down to my late colleague Mark O'Hanlon, who tried for three years to get a race sponsorship out here and worked very closely with QREC. That race happened last year and unfortunately Mark couldn't be with us but it was a great success.”

Both Baltic Knight and Bronze Maquette provided perfect advertisements to further O'Neill's cause. The latter is also a Tattersalls graduate, bought for 120,000gns in 2014, and the 4-year-old has added to her three UK victories by striking five times in Doha for owner Hamad Adel Al Muslimani and trainer Mohammed Hussain, including lifting the Qatar Oaks on Dec. 29.

O'Neill added, “By sponsoring at this meeting, it gives ITM a chance to thank the owners and trainers for their support of our market at home. It's an important market, especially for the older horse. They might race at two and three in Ireland and then come out here and race until they are six or seven.”

The arrangement now benefits both countries, with a reciprocal race sponsorship agreement in place. He added, “This year I sat down with Nasser [Sherida Al Kaabi, QREC General Manager] and said, 'why don't QREC do something in Ireland?' So Qatar now sponsors the Phoenix Sprint. For us, having the Group 2 race over a mile this year takes it to a completely different level. There are a lot of international runners and plenty of Irish-bred horses in the field. Last year, the Irish ambassador Pat Hennessy was here to present the trophy. He sadly couldn't make it this year because of the late date change but it is great that ITM can rely on the support of the Irish ambassadors around the world.”

The final races of the festival take place Saturday, with the G1 HH The Emir's Sword being the highlight for the purebred Arabians. Immediately preceding that is the major Thoroughbred race, the G1 HH The Emir's Trophy, with contenders from Britain, France, Germany and South Africa all bidding to take on the home crowd. The hero of the race for the last two years, Al Shaqab Racing's Dubday (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), has now joined GI Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Toast Of New York (Thewayyouare) on the Al Shaqab roster as one of a handful of Thoroughbred stallions at stud in Qatar. Speaking at a press conference at Doha Golf Club on Friday, Al Shaqab's British-based representative Harry Herbert said, “This meeting is very important to Sheikh Joaan, especially as it's on home turf. It also kicks off what we hope will be a very exciting season ahead, with Mshawish (Medaglia d'Oro) our next big runner in the Dubai World Cup next month. In Europe, of course, we're also looking forward to the return of Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}). They have both wintered well. Shalaa looks like a bull–a proper sprinter, just as John Gosden has always said he is. I know he's thrilled with him.”

Frankie Dettori, who rides Al Shaqab's Tashaar (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) for Richard Hannon in a bid to notch his third consecutive victory in the Emir's Trophy, spoke of how his job as retained rider to Sheikh Joaan's operation had been a “lifeline” for him after losing his job with Godolphin three years ago. He echoed Herbert's excitement in anticipating the return of dual Group 1 winner Shalaa, adding, “In the 28 years of my riding career I've never ridden a faster 2-year-old. It's that simple.”