This coming weekend, on the final day of the 2017 HH The Emir’s Sword Festival, all eyes will be on Al Shaqab Racing’s Al Mourtajez in the HH The Emir’s Sword (Gr1 PA).
Having won the first two legs of the Triple Crown at the Qatar Goodwood Festival and Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a win on Saturday will mean that the Thomas Fourcy-trained colt will be the first ever winner of the USD 1mn Triple Crown bonus.
The three-day festival, which will run on February 23-25, has attracted very strong international and national entries.
The 2400m feature races — the HH The Emir’s Trophy (Gr1) for thoroughbreds and HH The Emir’s Sword (Gr1 PA) — carry a prize money of USD 1mn each.
Apart from Al Mourtajez, Fourcy will also run Metrag for Al Shaqab Racing, while compatriot Eric Lemartinel, who is based in Abu Dhabi, will run Abu Alabyad.
Dossar Athbah will represent British trainer Phil Collington.
HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani-owned Gazwan will be in the fray. The Julian Smart-trained six-year-old won the Sword last year and the Trial earlier this month and arrives in great form.
In the Trial, he got the better of Umm Qarn’s Tayf, but Alban de Mieulle-schooled five-year-old colt will be looking to return the Sword to Umm Qarn.
The HH The Emir’s Trophy (Gr1), is headed by Noor al Hawa, who is trained by Andreas Wohler in Germany. The son of Makfi ran out an impressive winner of the Qatar Derby over 10 Furlongs (2,000m) on December 29, 2016, for jockey Adrie de Vries and will step up in trip again as he attempts to complete a valuable Qatar race double.
From the USA, trainer Doug O’Neill runs Royal Albert Hall, who was last seen finishing third in Santa Anita in January; Brice Blanc will ride. Sir Michael Stoute-trained Arab Spring, an unlucky short head second at Lingfield recently, will also be running.
Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari-owned The Blue Eye had won last year’s HH The Emir’s Trophy. Jassim Ghazali’s five-year-old ward will return to land the title for the second year in a row.