HORSERACING – THE 2025 running of the Bahrain International Trophy has attracted the deepest and most competitive entry in the race’s history, with seven different territories represented among the 68 entries.
With 24 horses entered, the UK leads the way numerically, followed by Japan with 14 entries and 11 from France.
Run over 2,000 metres with a prize fund of $1million, this year’s Bahrain International Trophy takes place on November 14 at Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club (REHC).
Among the entries for the Group Two event are five individual Group One winners, no fewer than 14 Group Two winners, and 53 Stakes winners.
Heading the list of top-flight winners is Economics, owned by Minister of the Prime Minister’s Court and REHC High Committee chairman Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and trained by William Haggas. In a memorable race at Leopardstown last year, Economics won the Group One Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes, beating the Derby winner Auguste Rodin.
Other Group One winners entered include Tornado Alert for Godolphin and trainer Saeed bin Suroor; White Birch, who is set to run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe tomorrow; and Calif, trained Fawzi Nass for Victorious Forever, who has flown the flag for the kingdom when running with distinction in Hong Kong, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia.
Also owned by Victorious Forever and entered is Isle Of Jura. Trained in Newmarket by George Scott, Isle Of Jura returned to the track last weekend, finishing second following an absence that stretched back to June 2024 when the horse was an impressive winner of the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Isle Of Jura enjoyed a spectacular stay in Bahrain in 2023-24, winning four times, culminating with victory in The King’s Cup. This year’s winner of that Group Three race, Sovereign Spirit, joins Calif as one of three home-trained entries in the Bahrain International Trophy.
Three international races carry an automatic invitation for the winner or placed horses, they are the Group Two Sapporo Kinen in Japan, the Group Three Strensall Stakes at York, and the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Two of the horses that earned an automatic invite this year are owned by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, namely Royal Champion and King Of Cities.
The well-travelled Royal Champion has had spells in training in both the UK and Australia. Now with Karl Burke in Middleham, North Yorkshire, the seven-year gelding put up a career best effort on his last start when third in the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes. King Of Cities, trained by Richard Hannon, won yet another competitive renewal of York’s Strensall Stakes, a race previously won by dual Bahrain International Trophy winner Spirit Dancer, and another of this year’s race’s entries is See The Fire, the high-class filly trained by Andrew Balding.
France won the first-ever running of the Bahrain International Trophy in 2019 with Royal Julius, and they look set to be well represented this year with 11 horses entered. Andre Fabre has entered five horses and Francis-Henri Graffard looks to build on an outstanding year with four entries. The French contingent also includes three-year-old Uthred, trained by Philippe Decouz and owned and bred by French football star Antoine Griezmann.
Second only to Godolphin in terms of number of horses entered is the Qatari-owned Wathnan Racing with six entries, including the UK-trained King’s Gambit and Damysus as well as horses based in Qatar, while also well represented is the Aga Khan Studs with five entries.
The Bahrain International Trophy has a maximum field of 14 runners. Last year’s race was won by Spirit Dancer, trained by Richard Fahey, ridden by Oisin Orr, and owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, Ged Mason, and Peter Done. Spirit Dancer became the first horse to win two runnings of the Bahrain International Trophy.
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