HORSERACING – THE rescheduled two-day His Majesty the King’s Cup will take place today and tomorrow and will bring the curtain down on Bahrain’s international season at Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club (REHC) in Sakhir.
The feature event is The King’s Cup tomorrow, run in honour of His Majesty King Hamad.
The King’s Cup is the most prestigious prize in Bahrain’s racing calendar. Now established as a Group Three event with a prize fund of $400,000, the 2,400m race has attracted a field of nine runners.
Last year’s winner, Sovereign Spirit, will attempt to defend his crown in the face of strong opposition. Trained by Jaber Ramadhan for Al Afoo Racing, Sovereign Spirit is aiming not only to repeat his 2025 victory but also the rare achievement of winning both The Crown Prince’s Cup and The King’s Cup in the same season.
The red and white colours of Victorious Forever were most recently carried to victory in The King’s Cup by Isle Of Jura in 2024, and they have two high-class representatives in this year’s renewal in Calif, trained by Fawzi Nass, and Phantom Flight, trained by George Scott.
Calif came back to winning form in February in the Listed His Highness Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Cup over 2,200m, and connections will be hoping he can build on that up in trip to 2,400m.
The mile-and-a-half of The King’s Cup is also a question mark for Phantom Flight, who finished fourth in the race last year but does have three course wins to his name over shorter distances.
Bahrain-based jockey Rosie Jessop has been overseeing the training of Scott’s string in recent weeks, and she commented of Phantom Flight: “He has been training very well ahead of Friday. I’m very happy with him. It’s my second season with him and everything he is showing me is positive.
“He comes into the race nice and fresh, he loves the track and we’re very happy with him. I think the trip of a mile-and-a-half is a bit of a question mark, but he ran very well here last time and so we will try again, I think he’s got a very good chance.”
Phantom Flight will have a new jockey on Friday when Benoit De La Sayette takes the ride. De La Sayette has been enjoying a really successful season based in Bahrain. With 14 winners to his name, he currently sits second in the jockeys’ championship behind Ebrahim Nader.
Daniel and Claire Kubler have settled well into their training career in Bahrain and will saddle their first runners in The King’s Cup, with Cracksking and Westridge.
In addition, they run one of the kingdom’s most popular horses, Byline, in the Listed Al Methaq Mile tomorrow.
The winner of 18 races, Byline faces Hi Royal, trained by Kevin Ryan, who has thrived in his winter campaign and has already secured the $40,000 bonus awarded to the leading horse in the middle-distance division of the Bahrain Turf Series.
The final two rounds of the 2025-26 Bahrain Turf Series take place tonight and the Kublers will be hoping that Up The Pace can win the final leg in the sprint division, the Al Fateh Cup, sponsored by Bapco Energies, and repeat his victory over the same course and distance he won over impressively in January.
The Al Fateh Cup, worth $100,000 and run over 1,200m, is a fiercely competitive handicap, bringing together the best of the Bahrain-based horses and a strong international challenge, led by Bahrain Turf Series regulars Roman Dragon, Desert Cop, and Spangled Mac.
The Bahrain Turf Series’ middle-distance division concludes with The International Handicap over 2,000m, also worth $100,000.
Baker saddles the sole international runner in top-weight Nesthorn, the mount of Benoit De La Sayette and the winner of round one in the Bahrain Turf Series back in December.
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