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Unlike the opening night’s racing at Al Rayyan when the card was tilted more towards Thoroughbred action over their Arabian counterparts, Derby Day is the opposite, with five of the seven contests confined to Purebred Arabians.
For jockeys however theses races come alike and the familiar faces of Harry Bentley, Alan Munro and Dutch-born Adrie de Vries all continue to ride their fair share of winners, with Bentley in particular enjoying another good season, leading the 2016 jockey’s table with 21 winners, though that figure was augmented by another couple during the evening.
An unfamiliar feature of the night was a series of match races that took place during the interval between each official race. Explaining the relevance of these head to heads out of stalls QREC’s Patricia Musial explained, “This is a traditional spectacle, a 400m race for Pure Arabian horses but partnered by riders instead of licensed jockeys. The winner of each match goes forward for the final which is run before the Derby.” As one can imagine the speed in which a horse jumps from the stalls is fairly important when racing over two furlongs so quite a few participants over the evening had their hopes of success dashed just as the race commenced.
Qatari owner Mubarak Al Naemi has enjoyed success at Irish and British racecourses in recent years with the likes of Group 3-winning sprinter Hamza (Ire) (Amadeus Wolfe {GB}) and Qatari Hunter (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB},) who was trained by Jim Bolger to win four races in a row during the summer. Al Naemi was represented in the evening’s feature race by Al Mohalhal (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), another former Bolger trainee that won at Naas during the summer but is now under the care of Qatari trainer Majed Seifeddine. Al Naemi made a sizable investment in the Irish bloodstock industry a few years ago when he purchased Kilfrush Stud in Limerick in 2013. The farm is a proven nursery of high class racehorses with dual Group 1 winner and 4.7m gns Tattersalls sale topper Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) probably the most illustrious graduate from when the farm was owned previously by the Strauss family. Al Naemi has ambitious plans for Kilfrush as current stud manager David Ryan, who was in Doha, outlined.
“Kilfrush is going very well. We’ve been building up the broodmare band since we purchased it in 2013 and have about 50 at present,” Ryan said. “Our first homebreds have been running this year and one of them
Qatar Man (Ire) (Archarcharch) looks very promising. He will go to Dubai to target their Guineas and his trainer Marco Botti thinks a lot of him.”
According to Ryan the majority of stock raised at Kilfrush will be retained to race which is good news for his trainers, in particular Jim Bolger who appears likely to benefit from increased patronage from Al Naemi.
“Mubarak loves his racing and he is looking forward to seeing his homebred stock running, says Ryan. “He has also gotten involved with sponsoring races and now supports two races at The Curragh including the G2 Royal Whip S. and a stakes race at Tipperary. He has a young family and they all spend quite a few weeks of the year at Kilfrush so it is something that he really enjoys and wants it to be a long-term success.”
Given last year’s Qatar Derby was shared by two international runners it is slightly surprising that this year’s $500,000 contest only attracted three overseas runners, one less than last year, especially when the QREC offer financial assistance towards both human and equine travel expenses. The race itself saw a second German trained winner in as many years when the Andreas Wohler trained Noor Al Hawa (Fr) (Makfi {GB}) proved much too good for his rivals, quickening away up the straight under De Vries to beat Gerrard’s Quest (GB) (Captain Gerrard {Ire}) by three lengths with Al Mohalhal running well to finish third.
“He showed a nice turn of foot and has always been quite a good horse,” said Wohler, himself no stranger to international success thanks to the exploits of Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Novellist (Ire) (Monsun [Ger}) in recent years.
Winner of his previous two starts at Group 3 level in Germany, Noor Al Hawa was bred by Rabbbah Bloodstock and formerly owned by Jaber Abdullah and is a recent acquisition for Al Wasmiyah Farm. According to Wohler the horse will remain in his care to be trained for the Emir’s Sword Trophy back at Al Rayyan in February. Despite David Ryan’s pre-race fears that the 2000m trip might stretch the stamina of Al Mohalhal, the horse acquitted himself well with Ryan also feeling the lack of a recent run may have counted against him. The 3-year-old will continue his career in Qatar. Noor Al Hawa is kin to the 2-year-old Majestic Lord (GB) (Youmzain {Ire}), a yearling colt by Dansili (GB) and a weanling filly by Sea the Moon (Ger).
So having just gotten my bearings it feels a bit strange to be leaving again in a few hours to go back to Ireland but having been so well looked after by the team at QREC the trip certainly made for a very pleasant end to 2016.
Thursday, Al Rayyan (Doha), Qatar
QATAR DERBY (NB), $500,000, Al Rayyan, 12-29, 3yo, 2000mT, 2:00.51, gd.
1–NOOR AL HAWA (FR), 128, c, 3, Makfi (GB)–Majestic Roi
(G1SW-Eng, $346,585), by Street Cry (Ire). O-Al Wasmiyah
Farm; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited; T-Andreas Wohler;
J-Adrie de Vries; $285,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW-Ger, SW-
Fr, 9-5-1-3, $439,261. *1/2 to Majestic Jasmine (Ire) (New
Approach {Ire}), SW-Ger.
2–Gerrard’s Quest (GB), 128, c, 3, Captain Gerrard (Ire)–Ryan’s
Quest (Ire), by Mukaddamah. (7,000gns Ylg ‘14 TATFEB;
13,000gns Ylg ‘14 TATOCT; 100,000gns HRA ‘15 TATOCT).
$110,000.
3–Al Mohalhal (Ire), 128, g, 3, Acclamation (GB)–Secret
Question, by Rahy. (€41,000 Wlg ‘13 GOFNOV). $55,000.
Margins: 3, 3/4, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Opera Baron (GB), Open ‘N Shut (GB), Barwod (GB), Cameraman (GB), Top Face, Life Imitates Art, French Encore (GB), Thewayyouwish (Ire), Noble House (Ger), Fourioso (Fr), Scarlet Dragon (GB), Ard San Aer (Ire), More Than a Dream (Ire).
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For jockeys however theses races come alike and the familiar faces of Harry Bentley, Alan Munro and Dutch-born Adrie de Vries all continue to ride their fair share of winners, with Bentley in particular enjoying another good season, leading the 2016 jockey’s table with 21 winners, though that figure was augmented by another couple during the evening.
An unfamiliar feature of the night was a series of match races that took place during the interval between each official race. Explaining the relevance of these head to heads out of stalls QREC’s Patricia Musial explained, “This is a traditional spectacle, a 400m race for Pure Arabian horses but partnered by riders instead of licensed jockeys. The winner of each match goes forward for the final which is run before the Derby.” As one can imagine the speed in which a horse jumps from the stalls is fairly important when racing over two furlongs so quite a few participants over the evening had their hopes of success dashed just as the race commenced.
Qatari owner Mubarak Al Naemi has enjoyed success at Irish and British racecourses in recent years with the likes of Group 3-winning sprinter Hamza (Ire) (Amadeus Wolfe {GB}) and Qatari Hunter (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB},) who was trained by Jim Bolger to win four races in a row during the summer. Al Naemi was represented in the evening’s feature race by Al Mohalhal (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), another former Bolger trainee that won at Naas during the summer but is now under the care of Qatari trainer Majed Seifeddine. Al Naemi made a sizable investment in the Irish bloodstock industry a few years ago when he purchased Kilfrush Stud in Limerick in 2013. The farm is a proven nursery of high class racehorses with dual Group 1 winner and 4.7m gns Tattersalls sale topper Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) probably the most illustrious graduate from when the farm was owned previously by the Strauss family. Al Naemi has ambitious plans for Kilfrush as current stud manager David Ryan, who was in Doha, outlined.
“Kilfrush is going very well. We’ve been building up the broodmare band since we purchased it in 2013 and have about 50 at present,” Ryan said. “Our first homebreds have been running this year and one of them
Qatar Man (Ire) (Archarcharch) looks very promising. He will go to Dubai to target their Guineas and his trainer Marco Botti thinks a lot of him.”
According to Ryan the majority of stock raised at Kilfrush will be retained to race which is good news for his trainers, in particular Jim Bolger who appears likely to benefit from increased patronage from Al Naemi.
“Mubarak loves his racing and he is looking forward to seeing his homebred stock running, says Ryan. “He has also gotten involved with sponsoring races and now supports two races at The Curragh including the G2 Royal Whip S. and a stakes race at Tipperary. He has a young family and they all spend quite a few weeks of the year at Kilfrush so it is something that he really enjoys and wants it to be a long-term success.”
Given last year’s Qatar Derby was shared by two international runners it is slightly surprising that this year’s $500,000 contest only attracted three overseas runners, one less than last year, especially when the QREC offer financial assistance towards both human and equine travel expenses. The race itself saw a second German trained winner in as many years when the Andreas Wohler trained Noor Al Hawa (Fr) (Makfi {GB}) proved much too good for his rivals, quickening away up the straight under De Vries to beat Gerrard’s Quest (GB) (Captain Gerrard {Ire}) by three lengths with Al Mohalhal running well to finish third.
“He showed a nice turn of foot and has always been quite a good horse,” said Wohler, himself no stranger to international success thanks to the exploits of Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Novellist (Ire) (Monsun [Ger}) in recent years.
Winner of his previous two starts at Group 3 level in Germany, Noor Al Hawa was bred by Rabbbah Bloodstock and formerly owned by Jaber Abdullah and is a recent acquisition for Al Wasmiyah Farm. According to Wohler the horse will remain in his care to be trained for the Emir’s Sword Trophy back at Al Rayyan in February. Despite David Ryan’s pre-race fears that the 2000m trip might stretch the stamina of Al Mohalhal, the horse acquitted himself well with Ryan also feeling the lack of a recent run may have counted against him. The 3-year-old will continue his career in Qatar. Noor Al Hawa is kin to the 2-year-old Majestic Lord (GB) (Youmzain {Ire}), a yearling colt by Dansili (GB) and a weanling filly by Sea the Moon (Ger).
So having just gotten my bearings it feels a bit strange to be leaving again in a few hours to go back to Ireland but having been so well looked after by the team at QREC the trip certainly made for a very pleasant end to 2016.
Thursday, Al Rayyan (Doha), Qatar
QATAR DERBY (NB), $500,000, Al Rayyan, 12-29, 3yo, 2000mT, 2:00.51, gd.
1–NOOR AL HAWA (FR), 128, c, 3, Makfi (GB)–Majestic Roi
(G1SW-Eng, $346,585), by Street Cry (Ire). O-Al Wasmiyah
Farm; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited; T-Andreas Wohler;
J-Adrie de Vries; $285,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW-Ger, SW-
Fr, 9-5-1-3, $439,261. *1/2 to Majestic Jasmine (Ire) (New
Approach {Ire}), SW-Ger.
2–Gerrard’s Quest (GB), 128, c, 3, Captain Gerrard (Ire)–Ryan’s
Quest (Ire), by Mukaddamah. (7,000gns Ylg ‘14 TATFEB;
13,000gns Ylg ‘14 TATOCT; 100,000gns HRA ‘15 TATOCT).
$110,000.
3–Al Mohalhal (Ire), 128, g, 3, Acclamation (GB)–Secret
Question, by Rahy. (€41,000 Wlg ‘13 GOFNOV). $55,000.
Margins: 3, 3/4, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Opera Baron (GB), Open ‘N Shut (GB), Barwod (GB), Cameraman (GB), Top Face, Life Imitates Art, French Encore (GB), Thewayyouwish (Ire), Noble House (Ger), Fourioso (Fr), Scarlet Dragon (GB), Ard San Aer (Ire), More Than a Dream (Ire).
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