ADO McGuinness and Ronan Whelan went close to winning the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup in Qatar for the second year in a row yesterday [Friday] when Pretreville finished second in the local Group 2 over a mile.

Owned by Shamrock Thoroughbreds, Pretreville defeated Group 1 winner Thunder Moon when he won a minor race in Dundalk last month. Yesterday he took up the running on the turn for home in Doha but was no match for the French-trained Pao Alto who swept past in the closing stages to win by almost two lengths.

The Joseph O’Brien-trained San Andreas, who finished fourth in the Dundalk race, ran on late to be third here under Dylan Browne McMonagle.

A year ago McGuinness and Whelan won the Qatar race – which has over €100,000 in first-place prize money – with Bowerman. Pretreville earned close to €40,000 by finishing second and San Andreas collected close to €20,000 for connections.