DOHA: Khalifa bin Sheail Al Kuwari has emerged as the owner with the top prize bag following 53 race meetings at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) in the 2015-16 season that concluded last week.
Al Kuwari won QR 4,682,896 after 23 of his entries claimed top spot in the races held at QREC. Al Kuwari managed a total of 170 runs in the season.
Al Kuwari’s entries managed 19.5 second finishes followed by 17 third-place results.
H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani emerged second best owner having accumulated a total prize money of QR 4,616,244.
Sheikh Mohammed’s entries managed the top spots a total of 24.5 times in the season.
Umm Qarn (35 first-place finishes) was third best with a tally of QR 3,477,912.
Injaz Stud (27 first-place finishes) was fourth best with a tally of QR 2,160,792.
Eng Hassan Ali Abdulmalik (10 first-place finishes) finished with an overall sum of QR 1,272,744 to end as fifth best owner in the season. Popular trainer Jassim Mohammed Ghazali produced 96 first-place wins accumulating a total prize money of QR 1,374,462.
American trainer Julian Smart was second with 23.5 winners. Smart won QR 568,855.
A de Mieulle (23 first-place wins) accumulated a total prize bag of QR 479,704 while Ibrahim Al Malki finished fourth-best in the season with 32 first-place wins for a sum of QR 229,425.
British jockey won 46.5 races in the season, posting a total prize money of QR 810,752. Richard Mullen with 18 wins received QR 439,131. Adrie De Vries (30.5 wins) won QR 347,873 in the season.
Gaetean Faucon (26 first-place wins) got QR 271,340 while Marvin Suerland (26 first-place finishes) won QR 248,689.
The Blue Eye emerged as the horse with most wins, bagging 5 victories with 1 second-place finish. The Blue Eye helped the owner bag a total prize money of QR 2,791,800.
Gazwan, who won the prestigious Emir’s Sword Race at the end of February, finished the season with 2 first place wins. Gazwan bagged QR 2,590,800.
TM Thunder Struck (4 first-place finishes) ended the season with a sum of QR 903,450 for the owner. In a fitting finale to the season last Thursday, Hassan Ali Hassan Al Matwi’s Jalwa Al Jazeera (Majd Al Arab-Sarah De Faust) edged out AJS Gannas in a thrilling finish in the Club Breeders Trophy a purebred Arabian race for three-year-old.
AJS Gannas was on a start to finish mission as he led all the way until caught on the last hurdle stride by the eventual winner Jalwa Al Jazeera. Jockey Tadgh O’Shea was astride the winner, who stopped the clock at one minute and 33.72 seconds for the seven-furlong ride. AJS Mezna was third ahead of Manaa Al Naif.
Earlier, the Mohammed Bin Hamad Khalifa Al Attiya-owned Zman Awal (Dubwi-Pivotal Lady) trounced the opposition enroute to an emphatic victory in the Al Ghariya Cup, a Class 2 race for Thoroughbreds Fillies and Mares, run over 1,400 meters.
The Mohanad Al Yaqout-schooled Zman Awal (Marco Monteriso up) raced in the rear until the home turn when asked for an effort, the Dubawi progeny sported a pair of wings and sped away to win handsomely and give her trainer a treble for the day.
Bonze Maquette was second ahead of Tautira and Rasheeda.
The 2016-17 horse racing season will commence next October.
The Peninsula
