ABBES lands Doha Cup for Wathnan Racing,Extra Time wins Al Rayyan Cup
Mdmar – France
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Khalifa Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) Board Member, awarded the winners of the Doha Cup and the Al Rayyan Cup, which are sponsored by QREC and were run at Deauville, France, on Tuesday, 8th August. 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. The 2023 renewal of the Doha Cup was landed by the Wathnan Racing owned Abbes (TM Fred Texas x Raqiyah) 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 Révolte.
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ABBES grabs his 5th Gr1 victory
A half-length runner up to Soko (Nieshan) in the same contest in 2022 and putting his experience to good use, it was the Wathnan Racing owned six-year-old purebred Arabian 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 Alban 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.
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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 tained 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 Alban 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.
Extra Time proves a cut above on 2nd start
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. We 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.
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David Morisson, the trainer of Extra Time, said: “He is still very immature, and he was up against more seasoned horses than him. However, he’s simply a good horse!. We will either head the Breeders’ Cup at Toulouse at the beginning of September or go directly to the Group 1 PA race at Saint-Cloud on the Friday [the eve] of the weekend of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. This is a great victory for his owner- breeder Guy Neivens.”
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. The autumnal climate is uncertain at Saint-Cloud. The idea is rather to return to Qatar and give him a break before gearing him to the top domestic prizes which are run on good ground.”
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The “Mdmar” website for horse and equestrian races is keen to cover and follow all competitions related to horses, from show jumping, Horseracing, speed and endurance races, and purebred Arabian horse beauty shows, which belong to the Arab Gulf countries at home and abroad in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
