HORSERACING – TWO of Europe’s leading trainers are targeting the Bahrain International Trophy, which this year takes place on November 14 at Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club (REHC).
Run over 2,000m, the Group Two race has a prize fund of $1million and is next on the agenda for horses in the care of Karl Burke and Francis-Henri Graffard, both of whom are enjoying fantastic seasons.
With well in excess of 100 wins in the UK and domestic earnings of £3.5m in prize money, trainer Karl Burke is having another hugely successful campaign, and he is looking forward to saddling his first runner in the kingdom with Royal Champion confirmed as on course for the Bahrain International Trophy.
Royal Champion brings some high-class European form to the race, having posted career best efforts on his last two starts. In July, the gelding won the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes, beating Almaqam, and then in September, he finished an excellent third in the Group One Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes, a performance that earned the seven-year-old an automatic invitation to the Bahrain International Trophy.
Owned by Shaikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, Royal Champion has already gathered plenty of air miles, having had a spell based in Australia when trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman. He returned to Europe last year, joining Burke’s increasingly powerful yard at the end of 2024.
Burke said: “Royal Champion came to us from Australia in late November having run three times down there and he has kept on improving all season. Indeed, his last race was as good a run as he has ever put in, finishing on the heels of Delacroix in the Irish Champion Stakes.
“He enjoys good ground, nice ground with no jar, and he is a horse who is probably at his best when fresh, as he showed with his last run. He has always worked well at home and is currently working as well as ever.”
Burke is well aware of the success Yorkshire based trainers have had in the Bahrain International Trophy with three of the last four runnings won by horses based in the county. In 2022, David O’Meara’s popular grey, Lord Glitters, won the race and the last two renewals, following the race’s elevation to Group Two status, have been taken by Spirit Dancer in the colours of co-owner Sir Alex Ferguson and trained by Richard Fahey.
Burke added: “Royal Champion will be my first runner in Bahrain and I am really looking forward to visiting the kingdom and seeing the facilities there. The bar has been set high, but we will be doing our best to uphold the fine tradition of Yorkshire trained horses in the race.”
Set to join Royal Champion in this year’s line-up is another horse bringing European Group One form to the race. Sibayan is the winner of his last three starts and represents French trainer Francis-Henri Graffard and owners, the Aga Khan Studs, connections fresh from success in two of the world’s most prestigious races following the victories of Daryz in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp and Calandagan in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
Sibayan is a horse very much on an upward curve, having won two Group Two races in France before going to win at Group Pne level last time out at Cologne in Germany.
Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said: “I couldn’t be happier with the progress Sibayan has made, he has really strengthened over the course of the year. I am looking forward to an international campaign with him over the winter, starting with Bahrain. Later in the year his target is the Hong Kong Vase so Bahrain is perfect because it is also a right-handed track and it has good prize money.”
With a total of 68 horses entered, the 2025 Bahrain International Trophy attracted the deepest and most competitive entry in the race’s history.
A maximum field of 14 runners will go to post and the line-up for this year’s renewal is taking shape as one by one the international contenders are confirmed alongside Bahrain’s two highest rated horses, Calif and Sovereign Spirit, who will represent the home team.
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