Bahrain

NEWMARKET, UK -- The racing programme in the Gulf region is becoming ever busier, with this Saturday's $1m Abu Dhabi Gold Cup the latest valuable contest to be enter the fray, followed by a double bill next weekend of Qatar's Emir's Sword Festival and the blockbuster Saudi Cup meeting.  The various horses-in-training sales at Park Paddocks have long been a lure for owners from that part of the world, and the final day of the Tattersalls February Sale proved to be no exception, with the top lot, Space Invasion, going...

Friday, Bahrain Turf Club, Kingdom of Bahrain, post time: 19:40, BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL TROPHY-G2, $1,000,000, 3yo/up, 2000mT Field: Bright Picture (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), Calif (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), Galen (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}), Lion's Pride (GB) (Roaring Lion), Military Order (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Persica (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal), Pride Of Arras (Ire) (New Bay {GB}). TDN Analysis: With the withdrawal of Group 1 winner Tornado Alert (Too Darn Hot), Godolphin only has the G3 Winter Derby scorer Military Order set to start for Charlie Appleby in this lucrative contest. However,...

Friday, Bahrain Turf Club, Kingdom of Bahrain, post time: 19:40, BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL TROPHY-G2, $1,000,000, 3yo/up, 2000mT Field: Bright Picture (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), Calif (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), Galen (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}), Lion's Pride (GB) (Roaring Lion), Military Order (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Persica (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal), Pride Of Arras (Ire) (New Bay {GB}). TDN Analysis: With the withdrawal of Group 1 winner Tornado Alert (Too Darn Hot), Godolphin only has the G3 Winter Derby scorer Military Order set to start for Charlie Appleby in this lucrative contest. However,...

Godolphin's Tornado Alert (Too Darn Hot) has sustained a setback and will not contest the G2 Bahrain International Trophy on November 14, according to trainer Saeed bin Suroor. A winner of the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis Bayerisches Zuchtrennen in July, the three-year-old colt will instead point toward Dubai targets. He ran fourth in the G1 2000 Guineas, sixth in the G1 Derby and was runner-up in the G3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot prior to his German tally. Bin Suroor said, "He has had a small setback, no real problem,...

Daniel and Claire Kübler have announced their intention to relocate to Bahrain later this year. The Lambourn-based husband-and-wife training partnership has sent out over 130 winners from its Lambourn base, but this move will see the Küblers "scale back" operations in Britain, having been presented with a "remarkable opportunity" to move to the Middle East. A statement released by Kübler Racing read, "After five successful seasons training under a joint licence from our stables at Sarsen Farm in Lambourn, we have been given a remarkable opportunity to train for His...

Godolphin's Group 1 scorer Tornado Alert (Too Darn Hot) will be freshened for the rest of the summer with the G2 Bahrain International Trophy in November penciled in as a long-term target, according to trainer Saeed bin Suroor. A winner at two, the son of Bint Almatar (Kingmambo) ran fourth in the G1 2000 Guineas in May and was sixth to Lambourn (Australia) in the G1 Derby at Epsom in June. Wheeled back in the G3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot, the bay was second that day. He was...

The King's Cup, which was run as a Group 3 for the first time this year, will be worth $400,000 in 2026, after the Bahrain Turf Club announced a doubling of the prize fund for the most prestigious contest in the Kingdom's racing calendar. In conjunction with the boost in value to The King's Cup, the international race programme has also been strengthened, creating a clearly signposted 'Road to the King's Cup' for highly-rated horses over both a mile and middle-distances. This programme culminates with the $120,000 Listed Al Methaq Mile...

Retirement is not on the agenda for multiple Group 1 and Classic-winning jockey Seamie Heffernan who, after partnering six winners so far during a winter stint in Bahrain, joked that he has 'a few scores to settle' back home in Ireland before hanging up the boots. It is nearly a year since the 52-year-old announced that he would not be returning to Ballydoyle to ride for Aidan O'Brien, as a result bringing the curtain down on a 30-year relationship that yielded countless big winners across the globe.  Heffernan has ridden...

Spirit Dancer (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who claimed the G2 Bahrain International Trophy a year ago for breeder Sir Alex Ferguson, Ged Mason and Peter Done, returns to Bahrain to defend his title on Friday. Worth $1 million, the 2000-metre race has attracted a contentious field of 12 from all corners of the globe. A winner of the G3 Strensall Stakes last year prior to his Bahrain heroics defeating among others the Coolmore partners' multiple group winner Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}), the 7-year-old gelding went on to take the G2...

Following a review by the Asian Pattern Committee, the King's Cup will be run as a Group 3 for the first time in 2025, it was announced by the Bahrain Turf Club on Monday. Run in March over a mile and a half, the King's Cup was won this year by the George Scott-trained Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) as he secured the Bahrain Triple Crown following wins in the Crown Prince's Cup and HH Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Cup. The second of those races has...

Every day is a school day if you follow TDN. Thankfully, master of all subjects Emma Berry delivered yesterday's lesson on the Bay City Rollers--apparently one of the most popular bands of the 1970s--in her excellent Seven Days column, allowing me to stay in my lane with today's news that the unbeaten two-year-old colt of the same name is unlikely to run again this year after his comfortable victory in Saturday's G2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. That is according to trainer George Scott, who already has his sights set on...

NEWMARKET, UK -- "Bought him for Bahrain," is an oft-repeated phrase at the sales these days. With an expansion in the Bahrain Turf Series announced only recently and the stamping of the form of some of the island's better races by Royal Ascot hero Isle Of Jura (GB), it is perhaps no surprise that it has become a target for a number of owners and trainers. Bahrain was also to the fore at the July Course during a sombre afternoon on which John Hunt was in the minds of his...