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| Rowan Anderson |
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The Listed Crown Prince’s Cup worth BHD $55,000 has attracted a field of 14 to run the 2000m on Friday as a highlight of a Bahrain card that also includes the fourth night of the Bahrain Turf Series.
George Baker has brought his 6YO Lucander to Bahrain to get back to the winners circle after triumphing in his debut in the Kingdom by close to six lengths.
“If I was to tell you that we expected him to win by six lengths on that occasion I would be telling a tiny bit of a lie. We knew he was in good order and that he travelled and was training very well,” Baker said.
“He enjoyed the quick pace and fed off that running on.”
The Footstepsinthesand x Lady Sefton gelding was purchased from the Ralph Beckett yard with proven form and the hunger to race a great horse in Bahrain by owners Nigel Jones and Paul Bowden.
He backed up a month later and ran fifth in a performance that will be forgotten come Friday night with the horse looking rock hard fit and ready to have his revenge against The Covex Kid who put 6.5 lengths on him on that occasion three weeks ago.
“He did run fifth but it wasn’t a bad run. He was a bit keen and he was left doing a bit too much far too soon.
“We have him back in great order and he should do well.
"The Crown Prince’s Cup is the hardest to win in Bahrain and when you have Godolphin bringing their team down and you have horses like Warren Point it’s a highly competitive field.”
Warren Point is the gelded son of Dubawi and he took out a Listed class race in Kempton last start by half a length and has four wins and two placings from a six start career suggesting the Appleby trained racer has immense potential. With Richard Mullen booked to pilot the Godolphin racer this will be his first start outside of his native Great Britain
Hesham Al Haddad is running second on the trainers championship but prepares five in this race including The Covex Kid who will have a lot of favouritism in this given his form to date.
The 4YO is the benchmark of the Al Haddad stable and many from this field have form lines that run from races in which he has won beating a majority of his opponents here. The gelded son of Mehmas has run four times this prep in Bahrain coming away with a clean sweep of victories. Neil Callan has piloted him to the line on all of these occasions and will return to the saddle here also. Having joined the stable from Amy Murphy he had a 121-day break before returning fresh and fit taking his first win back by 1.25 lengths and will be dominant here once again.
Al Haddad’s stable also includes Zagato with the 5YO having raced exclusively in Bahrain following his transfer from the Gosden stable for five starts with two wins, one a Listed class, and three placings.
The third of the Al Haddad team, Encourage, formerly owned by the late Queen has shown his ability in Bahrain after stepping out eight times and winning on five of those occasions. Returning to the track after winning by a neck in a small field last start on December 30 he will be competitive.
Hoop Husain Makki retains the ride on the gelded son of Acclamation, Forbidden Land, having partnered him five from seven rides in his Bahrain campaign. He last raced a week ago finishing off the pace sixth and not having won since December 2021 following a 778-day break and transfer from the Richard Hannon stable.
The final runner for Al Haddad here is Tawareeq, the Shadwell-bred gelding has contended with three of its competitors here in its stablemates Zagato (running third in Listed company), Encourage (running second by a third of a length) and the benchmark here, The Covex Kid who won their last start three weeks ago.
Allan Smith leads the Bahrain Trainers Championship and prepares a pair of hopefuls in this one.
Byline, the Mulhaarar x Lauren Louise gelding was transferred from Kevin Ryan and has since raced exclusively in Bahrain lining up on nine occasions (4-3-0). His first run with the Smith stable saw him triumph by nearly three lengths off the back of a 204-day break and followed by another 209-day spell. His current prep came after a 210 break and has seen him line up three times in the past 35 days for two wins and a fourth last start behind Zagato.
Smith’s other hope here is Glen Savage who is the new horse on the scene only having one run in Bahrain after five runs for the Gosden stable in the UK. Transferred to Smith at the end of November he lined up in Bahrain on December 23 running second behind The Covex Kid.
Haider Ebrahim prepares Goemon, a 4YO Dark Angel colt, who has three victories from five starts, one of these being his only start in Bahrain that came five days after Ebrahim took over training duties from Kevin Phillipart De Foy.
The most raced of the field is the 7YO Marie’s Diamond prepared by Roger Fell, having had 55 career starts since its debut in 2018. Having run four times in Meydan it now lines up for its fourth Bahrain start having run sixth and fourth in races won by The Covex Kid and on Bahrain debut finishing ninth seeing Lucander close to eighteen lengths winning ahead of it.
Fawzi Nass may have a secret weapon in this in the 8YO Port Lions who does not settle for any single victory in features but remains hungry for a double. The Victorious-owned gelding will look to a second triumph in the Crown Prince’s Cup having beaten home the field of nine in the 2020 edition.
He has also won two Al Adiyat Racing Cups (2020, 2021), and two Al Khalifa Cups (2019, 2020) and ran fourth in the Bahrain International Trophy (2020).