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Tribune News Network
DOHA
Sovereign Debt, ridden by Andrew Mullen, pounded down the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club Racecourse ominously and bagged the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup Group 2 race on the second day of the Emir's Sword Festival on Friday.
The eight-year-old brown gelding, owned by Lady O'Reilly and trained by David Nicholls of the UK, unleashed his charge from behind when Harry Bentley and Roman Legend were dashing promisingly towards the finish line of the feature race.
But Sovereign Debt, in the closing metres, overtook Roman Legend and won the race by half a length. Inspired by Sovereign Debt's dash, Aidan O'Brien's charge Coughar Mountain, with Donnacha O'Brien astride, also dashed ahead of the Mansoor Ibrahim al Mahmood-owned Roman Legend and grabbed the second place by half length.
Jassim Mohammed Ghazali's another ward, Extremis, got the fifth spot, more than a length behind fourth-placed Diplomat (Adrie de Vries).
The Gulf Cup was another salient feature of the Day 2 in the Festival and it was bagged by Umm Qarn's Farooq. The Alban de Mieulle-schooled four-year-old gray colt, ridden by Gaetan Faucon, did not have difficulty at the finish line, getting the first place by one and a half lengths ahead of Molheb Al Naif, who raced under Gerald Avranche.
This was the second successive victory for Farooq under Faucon. The pair had earlier won the Qatar Derby Local Purebred Arabian race in December. Marco Monteriso led Julian Smart's ward Najda to the third spot.
Abdulla al Marri and Second Life teamed up well to claim the Thoroughbred Handicap, sponsored by Horizon Automobiles for $100,000. This race was meant for the local riders and Marri set up the first triumph for the four-year-old bay filly, owned by Al Jeryan Stud and trained by M al Ramzani.
Town Crier (Rashid al Marri) defeated Stars N Angels (Abdulla al Adgham) by the same over two lengths to finish second. Nu Form Fire (Saeed Hamad Juma) was fourth by neck and Technicolour (Khadija Abdulwahed) rounded off the fastest five.
Earlier, British rider Bentley dominated the scene and came out with three winners. He guided Almuheet, a five-year-old chestnut colt who is owned by Al Jeryan Stud and trained by Jassim Mohammed Ghazali, to a three quarters win in the Purebred Arabian Sprint Cup over 1,200m.
This was the second victory in a row for Almuheet, while Mutazz (Suerland) was second and AJS Qadir (Avranche) got third.
Bentley's second triumph came in the Purebred Arabian Handicap Trophy 1,600m. Aziznefs had a strong finish and defeated Al Fouz by two and a half lengths for his third victory in four runs this season.
Muraqabah and Bentley needed a plenty of efforts to edge Tanja Bu Thaila (Alberto Sanna) by neck in the Local Thoroughbred Trophy 1,400m. This was the overall fourth victory and second of the year for the dark brown filly, owned by Khalifa bin Sheail al Kuwari and trained by Ghazali. Zuzi was third by half length.
The other two races of the day were shared by Bronze Maquette (Avranche) and Topsy Turvy (Eduardo Pedroza). Avranche asked the five-year-old bay filly to go all out and she did exactly that to pip Botanica (Bentley) by short head for her fourth victory in five runs.
Topsy Turvy, owned by Sheikh Faisal bin Hamad bin Jassim al Thani and trained by Ibrahim al Malki, defeated Goldenfield (de Vries) by less than a length to win the Thoroughbred Handicap Trophy Class 3 over 1,850m. This was the second win in succession for the five-year-old bay gelding.
