Nano Toro, ridden by Mohammed Hassan Al Abdulmalik, claimed the Al Ghariyah Cup win last season.
Doha, Qatar: The domestic horse racing season gets underway at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) today with the opening meeting featured by the Al Ghariyah Cup held on Al Rayyan’s dirt track.
The season opener comprises eight races across various distances and categories, launching a comprehensive 70-meeting programme recently published by QREC for both Al Rayyan and Al Uqda racecourses.
Al Rayyan will host 48 meetings, with the remaining 22 staged at the Al Uqda racecourse.
In total, the season features 518 individual races, including 13 races dedicated to Purebred Arabian show horses.
QREC management has allocated total prize money of QR88,763,000 for the campaign, alongside QR735,000 for the Arabian show horse races.
The two flagship features of the programme, the Group 1 H H The Amir Trophy for Thoroughbreds and the Group 1 PA
H H The Amir Sword, carry a prize purse of $2.5m each on the final day of the H H The Amir Sword Festival on 13 February 2027, standing as the richest prizes on the QREC calendar.
For the opening meeting today, 14 October, the main event will be the eighth race: the Al Ghariyah Cup, a Class 2 contest for Thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three and up over 1,200m, carrying a prize purse of QAR 120,000. The contest will reveal the season’s inaugural winner.
At last season’s curtain-raiser, Nano Toro (Toronado x Nawarah) claimed the first trophy of the 2025/26 campaign for owner Hassan Ali Abdulmalik, trainer Debbie Mountain and jockey Mohammed Hassan Al Abdulmalik, securing victory by half a length.
The second fixture of the campaign, featuring the Al Hamla Cup is scheduled to take place at Al Rayyan’s turf track tomorrow.
Meetings will continue weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays until Saturday, 14 November, when Al Uqda hosts its season opener with the Al Noof Cup Day, expanding the schedule to three weekly meetings across Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Major success for Qatari racing
The launch of the domestic season follows the conclusion of QREC’s overseas sponsorship campaign, culminated by the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The flagship event delivered further Qatari success on the track alongside organisational acclaim, reflecting the elevated the global standing achieved through QREC sponsorship over the years.
Ahead of the local curtain-raiser, Qatari racing secured further international validation following decisions ratified by the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC) of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) during its meeting in Paris last week.
Effective from this season’s edition of the H H The Amir Sword Festival, the H H The Amir Trophy for Thoroughbreds has been promoted to Group 1 status - the highest level in global horseracing. Additionally, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup has been elevated to Group 3 while both the Dukhan Sprint Cup and the Al Rayyan Mile Cup have been granted Listed status.
