Al Kaabi: Goals realised at Qatar Goodwood QREC willing to assist Qatari owners to participate at Goodwood
Nasser bin Sherida Al Kaabi, General Manager of Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC), stated that the main goals of the Qatar Goodwood Festival have been realised through the Qatari presence at this historical event at Goodwood. “In addition, Qatar’s horses, represented by the Qatar Racing and the Al Shaqab-owned runners have grabbed three titles so far”, said Al Kaabi, “and we look forward to more titles in every renewal of the Festival.”
“Holing this event under Qatar’s sponsorship in the United Kingdom demonstrates a robust determination to be present at the top horseracing festivals and events, in terms of not only organisation, but realising excellent results in the races where Qatar’s Thoroughbreds and Arabians run. It was a remarkable achievement when the Qatar Racing-owned Lightning Spear won the Group 1 Qatar Sussex Stakes in this year’s renewal of the Festival, especially as it is the first win of this race by a horse from Qatar since the beginning of Qatar’s sponsorship of the Festival in 2015. In fact, Qatar Racing pay good attention to quality as seen by running one horse in this race and he was able to land the title of such a prestigious race, which had a purse of GBP 1,000,000 on offer.
“We had hopes to win the Group 1 Qatar International Stakes for Arabians as well, but Qatar’s horses were not lucky to do that. In addition, some excellent horses from Qatar, such as the Umm Qarn-owned Yazeed did not run in that race. However, the next target is the Qatar Arabian World Cup on the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day in October and I can confirm that the title will be for Qatar. In the meantime, we cannot underestimate Muraaqib, who won the Qatar International Stakes this year as he is a top-quality horse and he had won several titles earlier.
“The Festival will continue next year. There is ongoing evaluation of every edition in order to reach a better organisational level each year and to realise more gains for Qatar. The turnout has been very impressive and there are over 20,000 spectators every day, which, coupled with the excellence of the Qatar Racing and the Al Shaqab-owned winners, best demonstrate the huge success of this year’s renewal. As always, we look forward to the better in future and we do welcome any other runners from Qatar. QREC are willing to assist the interested Qatari owners to have their horses run in this prestigious event, which we have been privileged to sponsor for four years now,” concluded Al Kaabi.
