Running in the colours of her breeder, Sheikh Faisal bin Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Safaa opened her account at Dax in France on Sunday when she won the Prix Saint-Laurent, a conditions race for three-year-old Purebred Arabians over seven furlongs.
The Francois Rohaut-trained grey filly managed to get off the mark in just her third career start. She was still a bit green on her debut in July over 1900m at La Teste-de-Buch, but improved well to finish third over seven furlongs at Vichy last month.
On Sunday, ridden by Valentin Seguy, Safaa followed the pace in the early stages. Then, she came up the middle of the straight and was brave to continue her acceleration to the line, fending off an attack from the fast-finishing Hazzam, who finished second by a neck under Jerome Cabre in the colours of Al Shaqab Racing for trainer Thomas Fourcy. Debutant Umran was further two lengths behind under Antoine Werle in third completing the frame for Qatari owners and giving Al Shaqab Racing another top place in the race.
Safaa is a daughter of General, the multi-Group PA winner, including Qatar Arabian World Cup (Group 1 PA) at ParisLongchamp in 2009 and 2010. She is out of Sahaba Al Uraiq.
Half-an-hour earlier, Al Shaqab Racing’s homebred Al Mashrab added a seventh victory to his scorecard in the Prix Albert Laborde. His win under Guillaume Trolley de Prevaux marked his return to the track after nearly a year out of competition.
In 2019, Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Al Mashrab lined up in five races, winning four of them and finishing runner-up in the remaining one. Al Mashrab is a son of Al Shaqab’s stallion Style Vendôme out of Candicans, a full sister of the Group 1 winner and sire Zambezi Sun. In the penultimate race of the day, Miss Boum Al Maury led a one-two for owner Mohamed bin Fahad al-Attiyah’s in 2100m Prix Kann.
She came into this race for four-year-old Purebred Arabians off a solid third place in a Listed race earlier this month, at San Sebastian, Spain.
His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Caracole Du Loup took lead in the early stages. At the final turn, Miss Boum Al Maury came with a swooping dash from the outside to join the leaders and take the lead. The bay filly held the challenge of the other runners at bay to win by a length with Lily Le Pemp in the saddle for trainer JF Bernard. Nijinski Al Maury was the runner-up under Jerome Cabre, securing a one-two for the winning owner. The frame was dominated by Qatari owners with Al Shaqab Racing’s homebred Ajaweed finishing third under Mickael Forest.