Alkass Digital
Wathnan Racing owned Abbes landed the Doha Cup while the Al Rayyan Cup was won by the Guy Neivens owned and bred Extra Time at the Deauville Racecourse in France, yesterday.
Khalifa bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) Board Member, awarded the winners of the two races, sponsored by QREC.
Both prestigious races are Group 1s for Purebred Arabians and are run over 2,000m. While the Doha Cup is for four-year-olds and older, the Al Rayyan Cup is for three-year-old and each of them is the best race of the summer in France for the relevant age category of the Purebred Arabian breed.
Abbes (TM Fred Texas x Raqiyah) won the Doha Cup for trainer Alban de Mieulle and jockey Mickael Barzalona while the Al Rayyan Cup was won by the Guy Neivens owned and bred Extra Time (Valiant Boy x Sand Witchh) for trainer David Morrison and jockey Émilien Revolte.
A half-length runner up to Soko (Nieshan) in the same contest in 2022 and putting his experience to good use, it was the Abbes who got his head in front to take the 2023 edition of the Gr.1 (PA) Doha Cup.
Now a five-time Gr.1 (PA) winner, Abbes under the care of De Mieulle, the French bred Abbes returned to winning ways domestically in the Gr.1 (PA) Doha Cup, having chased home Ch’ezza (AF Albahar) in the Gr.1 (PA) The President of the UAE Cup at ParisLongchamp in May.
Held up in the five-runner contest under Mickael Barzalona and blinkered, Abbes travelled well while Edalbar (AF Albahar) set decent fractions at the head of affairs. Switched wide in the home straight, the grey six-year-old laid down a strong challenge to get up close home and reverse the form with the Abdullah bin Fahad Al Attiyah owned and Francois Rohaut trained Ch’ezza, who was ridden by Christophe Soumillon, by a half a length.
Hadi De Carrere (Nieshan) ran well to take third. The Khalifa bin Sheail Al Kuwari owned and Thomas Fourcy trained Hadi De Carrere (Nieshan) ran well, on his first outing since January this year, to take third as he was further two lengths under Olivier Peslier.
The winning trainer De Mieulle announced after the race that, given the fact that Abbes does not like soft ground,the star Purebred Arabian owned by Wathnan Racing will sidestep the autumn season in France and Qatar Arabian World Cup (Gr1 PA) in order to focus on the big races in Qatar, where he has so far been imperial.
Bred by Haras De Victot, Abbes is by stallion Haras des Thouras’ triple Group 1 winning stallion TM Fred Texas (Burning Sand). His dam Raqiyah (Amer) is a four-time Group One winner in France.
In the Al Rayyan Cup (Gr1 PA), Extra Time proved a clear-cut winner at the expense of AJS Lattam and Kanti de Bozouls. Trained at La Teste by David Morisson, he began his career with a second place “on home turf” in a Group 3 PA race. Fans were treated to an international finish, as AJS Lattam is trained in Qatar by Mohammed Hamad Al Attiyah, whereas Kanti de Bozouls is handled by Xavier Thomas-Demeaulte at Mont-de-Marsan.
Mohammed Hamad Al Attiyah, the trainer of AJS Lattam, explained: “He had won twice in good style in Qatar. We then took him to England where I am based in the summer. And he ran well there, in a prep race over 1,700m, which was of a modest level. AJS Lattam therefore made the trip to Deauville with several question marks hanging over him, and he answered all of those positively. He‘s a progressive horse and he has not shown the full extent of his talent.”