I HAVE just returned from a trip to Doha, the capital of Qatar, where they staged four races of international quality last weekend. The feature holds a Group 3 classification globally, but this will not be for long, and an upgrade will come in due course.

There was a large presence of overseas visitors to the meeting, and three Irish-trained runners. Aidan O’Brien sent two, Point Lonsdale and Cairo, while Ado McGuinness ran Go Athletico in the sprint. All four principal races for thoroughbreds on Saturday carried hugely valuable purses, and more and more owners and trainers from Europe will surely avail of the generous Qatari hospitality in the future.

Irish Thoroughbred Marketing continue their association with the meeting, and put their name to a mile conditions race with a winners’ purse of £225,000. Fittingly, Irish-bred horses finished first, second and third, much to the delight of ITM’s Alex Cairns who was on hand to present the trophies. It was the globetrotting Brave Emperor who triumphed on the day for Middleham Park Racing, and this was the four-year-old’s tenth win in 16 starts.

He has raced and won in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and now Qatar, and pocketed well over €600,000 in winnings. Brave Emperor started and ended 2023 with a bang, and this year would look like being no different. He is a wonderful advertisement for racehorse ownership, and long may his winning run continue.

Leading earner

From the first crop of Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy), and now his leading earner, the gelding was bred by Caroline Hanly and Sean Ronan and he is one of 13 stakes winners for his Coolmore sire, and 10 of these are pattern winners. The sire’s upward trajectory saw his fee go from €17,500 to €27,500 this year.

Apart from his juvenile debut and his run at Royal Ascot last summer, Brave Emperor has never finished out of the first three. In addition to his 10 victories for trainer Archie Watson, he passed the post first on another occasion, only to be demoted. His winnings are a sweet return on his £19,000 yearling sale price at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale back in 2021.

His most prestigious win came at the end of last year in Rome’s Group 2 Premio Vittorio di Capua, and other wins include three Group 3s in France and Germany, namely the Prix Daphnis, Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf and the Dr Busch-Memorial.

Brave Emperor is the first foal from Roman Gal (Holy Roman Emperor), and she was fourth in a maiden at Naas over six furlongs. After her racing career she sold for just €9,000, and she looks to have another winner in waiting, as her three-year-old filly by Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit), sold for €28,000 as a yearling, is named Puella Law, and she has made four starts to date, running second, third twice and fourth.

Family tradition

Roman Gal is continuing a strong family tradition, following in the footsteps of her own first three dams by breeding a stakes winner. Her five successful siblings are headed by Salouen (Canford Cliffs), a listed winner at two who was placed five times in Group 1 races, including in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Racing Post Trophy at two, and twice in the Coronation Cup at Epsom.

Their dam Gali Gal (Galileo) was among five winners from the Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Asterita (Rainbow Quest), the others led by the US stakes winner and Grade 2 American Derby runner-up Californian (Zafonic). Asterita and the Group 2 Italian winner Special Nash (Nashwan) head the list of eight winners from Northshiel (Northfields), and that group also includes Loxandra (Last Tycoon).

A minor winner, Loxandra went on to breed five stakes winners, a pair of which performed well at the highest level. Keltos (Kendor) was the best older miler in Europe 21 years ago after winning the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes, but sadly proved to be sub-fertile at stud, while his listed-winning half-brother Krataios (Sabrehill) was placed in both the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas and the Prix d’Ispahan.

Amir Trophy

The main race at the meeting, the Group 3 H.H. The Amir Trophy, worth a staggering £1.12 million to the winner, saw the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance (Dubawi) back on the international stage with a bang. Recording win number 11 in his 17-race career, he took his total earnings over £3.4 million. It has also been an amazing start to the year for Rebel’s Romance’s dam Minidress (Street Cry).

Last month, her three-year-old son Measured Time (Frankel), who won three of his four starts last year in Britain, headed to the UAE for the winter where he added the Group 1 Jebel Hatta to a win in the Group 2 Al Rashidiya Stakes at Meydan.

In 2022, Rebel’s Romance made his breakthrough at the highest level in Germany where he won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin and Group 1 Preis von Europa. Measured Time and Rebel’s Romance are two of four winners out of the stakes-placed Minidress, another being the Irish stakes-placed Petticoat (Cape Cross).

Minidress is a daughter of Short Skirt (Diktat), successful in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes and St Simon Stakes, and purchased for Godolphin for 1,400,000gns after running third in the Group 1 Oaks. Short Skirt’s best runner is Minidress’s own-brother Volcanic Sky (Street Cry), a Group 3 winner at Meydan.

Emaraaty Ana

The winner’s prize for the Dukhan Sprint was just more than the 160,000gns it cost Barrett Racing to purchase Emaraaty Ana (Shamardal) at last year’s Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale. The result was also a joy for the Osborne/O’Sullivan clan present, as Jamie Osborne trains the eight-year-old who was ridden by his daughter Saffie. Mum Katie O’Sullivan, the renowned artist, was present, and she and Saffie had just flown in from Dubai where the rider made history 24 hours earlier.

Emaraaty Ana will surely provide connections with some more great days racing. This was his seventh career success, and they include the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup, and Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes. Three times he has been runner-up at the highest tier, in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes and the Haydock Spring Cup.

Emaraaty Ana is the best of three winners out of Spirit Of Dubai (Cape Cross), a listed winner at Newmarket as a three-year-old.

Local win

Oddyssey provided great joy for racegoers when the locally-trained three-year-old colt repaid the 80,000gns investment made in him by trainer Jassim Ghazali at last year’s Tattersalls Autumn Sale. Though he hadn’t won then, the son of Ulysses (Galileo) had placed in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes and the Listed Chesham Stakes.

He won for the third time in Doha with his success in the Al Rayyan Mile, and he has earned more than £200,000 since moving to Qatar. At this rate of improvement he could well add to his sire’s list of six stakes winners, as he had the Gosden-trained Orne well beaten in second, and that son of Acclamation ended his juvenile season with a win in the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newmarket.

Oddyssey and Echo Beach (Adaay) are two winners from the first three foals out of Last Echo (Whipper). That mare’s fourth produce is a two-year-old daughter of Havana Grey (Havana Gold) who was the third highest-priced yearling at the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, selling for 140,000gns. Last Echo’s grandam Priory Belle (Priolo) won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, and is the grandam of the Australian Group 1 winner Opinion (Oasis Dream).