HORSERACING – THE two-day His Majesty The King’s Cup festival concludes today with the staging of the feature event, The King’s Cup, run in honour of His Majesty King Hamad.
The 2,400m race is the most prestigious prize in Bahrain’s racing calendar.
Worth $200,000 and sponsored by Bapco Energies, this year’s edition is notable as it marks the first running of The King’s Cup since it was promoted to a Group Three and it has attracted an international and competitive field to match its new status.
Among the international runners is John and Thady Gosden’s lightly raced gelding, Military Academy, who is running overseas for the first time and will have the help of Tom Marquand in the saddle. A bold show from Military Academy in The King’s Cup would have added poignancy as the horse is bred out of a mare jointly owned by Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and his great uncle Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Joint licence holder, Thady Gosden, explained: “The horse is a homebred, His Highness Shaikh Isa and His Highness Shaikh Abdulla own the mare Sovereign Parade who was also trained at Clarehaven and they had Commissioning out of the mare, who was a very smart Group One-winning filly and now Military Academy is the second horse from the mare.”
Military Academy has progressed steadily through the ranks, winning in Listed company last year and most recently completing his preparation for The King’s Cup when runner-up in the Group Three Winter Derby at Southwell last month.
Gosden added: “We have been thinking of this race since he won a Listed race at Kempton in November. It will be his first run here at the track, so we will have to see how he handles that.
“His early career runs on turf were on slower ground but that was more through circumstance than anything else. His sister, Commissioning, enjoyed top of the ground.
“This year the race has a lot of depth to it, with the international runners and local horses, such as Sovereign Spirit, very solid horses. We will see what pace is on and hopefully the race will work out well for him.
“He has travelled over very well. He’s quite laid back about life, he doesn’t worry much which is ideal.”
Godolphin are represented by King Of Conquest, who has finished runner-up on his last three starts at Meydan. Simon and Ed Crisford will be saddling Intricacy, who re-opposes both Zagato and Phantom Flight, the pair who finished in front of him in the Listed Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Cup two weeks ago.
The best of the Bahrain-trained horses may well be Sovereign Spirit, who ran very creditably at the Saudi Cup meeting when beaten only four-and-a-half lengths in the Group Two Neom Cup and should appreciate the return to 2,400m in The King’s Cup.
Earlier on the card, the strength of Saudi Cup form will also be tested in the Listed Al Methaq Mile in which Goemon, who finished third in the $2million 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh, will bid to confirm placings with Byline, who was fifth.
Highbank, formerly with Godolphin but now representing Simon and Ed Crisford, is an interesting addition to the field, as is the Qatar-based challenger, General Panic.
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