Qatar’s HH The Amir Sword day: summary
- Four out of five thoroughbred races won by Irish-bred horses
- The French-bred Alzahir, the fifth thoroughbred winner
- Three French-bred winners overall, including the day’s Arabian feature race, HH The Amir Sword winner Abbes
- First-ever winner in Qatar trained in Hong Kong: trainer Douglas Whyte’s Galileo gelding Russian Emperor takes HH The Amir Trophy, his own first-ever winner abroad
- Trainer Hugo Palmer: trains his first-ever winner outside of Europe with the Dukhan Sprint winner Flaming Rib
- Second winner for jockey Oisin Murphy since his recent return to action, first outside of the UK since 2021
- Two winners on the day’s card for jockey Andrea Atzeni: Alazhir, trained by John & Thady Gosden, winner of the Al Rayyan Mile, and the Arabian Ska De L’Aigel successful in HH The Amir Silver Sword for Francois Rohaut
- First HH The Amir Sword Festival winner for young local trainer M.H.K Al Attiyah with homebred AJS Saaeq in the Qatar International Cup
- First Arabian ride for Ryan Moore for “donkey’s years”: finishes second in the HH The Amir Sword on Moshrif and picks up his share of $550,000
- Double on the card for HH The Amir Sword-winning jockey Mickael Barzalona: the Frenchman is now top of the Qatar jockeys’ standings, with HH The Amir Trophy-winning jockey Alberto Sanna in second
- Rathbarry sire Acclamation currently becoming an international sire of note: King Pacha wins the HH The Amir Shalfa in Qatar. The stallion is sire of the new Hong Kong star, Romantic Warrior
- Galileo: sire of the winner Russian Emperor, and grand-sire of Order Of Australia. His half-brother Sea The Stars is the sire of Alzahir
Photos by Debbie Burt