HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani owned Djainka Des Forges came up with a brilliant display to overhaul Umm Qarn’s Al Tair and win the Euros one million Qatar Arabian World Cup at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris yesterday. Qatar dominated the race with the first four finishes. Al Shaqab Racing’s Dahor De Brugere and Farh took third and fourth place respectively.

Qatar’s dominance in the World Cup was halted by UAE’s Mushrae last year with a narrow win over Umm Qarn’s Muntasar. This was Qatar’s fifth success and third for trainer Julian Smart in this premier event for Pure Arabians.

HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani’s General started the winning trend for Qatar with fluent victories in 2009 and 2010. This was followed by Al Shahania Stud’s dual success with Areej (2011) and Mkeefa (2012).

Trainer Smart was delighted with his third success in the World Cup. “I guess we are toppers now with three victories. Djainka Des Forges is a super filly who deserved this victory. She is a real athlete and without a doubt the best horse in the world. I have a good rapport with fillies, I guess they like me. Training Arabians is very different to training Thoroughbreds. They stay in training for much longer and a race like this takes a lot out of them,” Smart told the Gulf Times.

“She will go back to Qatar. I would like to run her next in the Kahayla Classic in Dubai. A lot of winners of Qatar Arabian World Cup give everything in the race and take a while to come back. It’s up to me to see that she comes back in the best form possible,” Smart added.

Myra De Monlau set the pace, closely followed by the Qatari contingent alongwith Djet Taouy who were bidding for their time to essay their challenge.

On turning for home, Myra De Monlau shortened his strides as Dahor De Brugere, Al Tair and Djainka Des Forges came into contention. Dahor De Brugere briefly took the initiative but was soon challenged by Al Tair and Dajainka Des Forges. Jockey Thierry Jarnet on Al Tair and Christophe Lemaire on Djainka Des Forges engaged in a fierce duel in the final furlong, but it was Djainka Des Forges who got stronger at the finish to win quite comfortably.

“It was a very exciting race and my congratulations to HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani for this tremendous victory. Qatar has once again proved their calibre when it comes to breeding top class Pure Arabians. This is great news for us and we hope to do well in the following years as well,” QREC general manager Sami Jassim al-Boenain said.

“This has been a glorious weekend for Qatar. Treve was simply amazing today. To come back and win an event of this status is not easy. She came with a similar run like last year and won very well. Al Shaqab Racing has made every Qatari proud and my congratulation to HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani and his team for winning the Arc once again,” Sami added.

Jockey Lemaire was delighted with the performance of Djainka Des Forges. “We really had a great race. I chose to follow Al Tair and I was confident that I would edge him at the post. I am happy for the Al Shahania Stud team who gave me an opportunity to ride the winner,” he said.

Al Tair trainer Alban de Mieulle was pleased with the performance of his ward.

“Though he has not been on the race track for quite a while, Al Tair did very well to finish a close second. Most likely he will stay back in France.”

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