Noor Al Hawa keeps making his trainer Elias Mikhalides happy. After winning the Grand Prix de Compiègne (Listed), the Ali bin Hamad al-Attiyah-owned colt gave him his first Group win in the Grand Prix de Vichy (Gr3).
Noor Al Hawa, with Theo Bachelot in the saddle, had a golden course in the back of the leader Sajjad. In the home straight, he was strong, as usual, and pushed away three offensives, which turned out to be an additional motivation. Golden Legend, who waited at the back of the field for a while, ended well and took the second place a length and a quarter behind Noor Al Hawa. She beat Subway Dancer by a head. 
“The horse had a good race,” said Mikhalides. “He is strong. He was used to running 1600m distances, but we decided to make him run longer distances because of his action. It seems to be working. He should be heading towards the Prix Gontaut-Biron and in the Qatar Prix Dollar during the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend.”
When trained by Andreas Wohler, Noor Al Hawa had won two Gr3 races in Germany as well as the Qatar International Derby (Gr1) in Doha. In addition, he was the runner-up in the His Highness The Amir’s Trophy (Gr1) at Al Rayyan racecourse in February this year.