Qatar Arabian World Cup – Complete Guide
The World Championship of Purebred Arabians
The Qatar Arabian World Cup is the richest and most prestigious race in Purebred Arabian racing, run each October on the undercard of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp. Over 1m1f207y (roughly 2,000 metres) on the round course, it brings together the best Purebred Arabians from Qatar, France, the wider Gulf and beyond for what the sport treats as its own de facto world championship, run under the banner of the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC). With prize money of €1,000,000 (US$1,080,000, at an indicative rate of €1 = US$1.08), it dwarfs almost every other Purebred Arabian contest run anywhere in the world.
Unlike the Thoroughbred Arc itself, the World Cup sits at the end of a genuinely global build-up: horses arrive at ParisLongchamp having already proven themselves across Qatar's domestic season and Europe's own Purebred Arabian Group races earlier in the year. This guide covers the race's history, what it involves and the specific route the 2025 winner took to Paris.
History and Origins
The Qatar Arabian World Cup grew out of the QREC's long-running partnership with France Galop, which has sponsored the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend since 2008. Purebred Arabian racing has been part of the QREC's broader mission to promote the breed internationally, and the World Cup was established as the discipline's marquee international showpiece, deliberately scheduled alongside the Arc to give Purebred Arabian racing the same global stage and audience as the Thoroughbred sport's biggest weekend.
The World Cup carries Group One Purebred Arabian status, the top classification in the discipline, and its roll of honour is dominated by Qatari-owned stables and French training operations, reflecting the sport's centres of gravity in Doha and Chantilly. The QREC has also become title partner of the Prix du Jockey Club since 2022, part of a broader strategy of embedding Purebred Arabian racing alongside Thoroughbred Group racing's biggest French fixtures, rather than treating it as a separate, lower-profile discipline.
The Race Itself
The World Cup is open to Purebred Arabians and run over roughly 2,000 metres at ParisLongchamp, with total prize money of €1,000,000 (US$1,080,000) in 2025, split €630,000 (US$680,000) to the winner, €200,000 (US$216,000) to second, €100,000 (US$108,000) to third and €70,000 (US$76,000) to fourth. It is staged as part of a wider Purebred Arabian card on Arc Sunday, which in 2025 included four further Group One Purebred Arabian races alongside the Arc itself.
There is no single automatic qualifying series for the World Cup in the way the Arc's "Arc Trials" work for Thoroughbreds, but in practice the leading contenders arrive by one of two well-worn paths: Qatar's own domestic season, built around the HH The Amir Sword Festival in February and a summer target at the Goodwood Festival (run commercially as the Qatar Goodwood Festival) in Britain, or a European route through Group One Purebred Arabian races at Deauville in August and ParisLongchamp itself in September. The races that made up each leg of the 2025 season, and their winners, are set out below.
• Gr.1 HH The Amir Sword (PA) (US$2,500,000 | 2,400m | 2025 Winner: Al Ghadeer / François Rohaut)
• Gr.1 Qatar International Stakes (PA) (£400,000 (US$508,000) | 1,600m | 2025 Winner: Al Ghadeer / François Rohaut)
• Gr.1 Doha Cup (PA) (€50,000 (US$54,000) | 2,000m | 2025 Winner: RB Kingmaker / Elisabeth Bernard)
• Gr.1 Qatar Cup — Prix Dragon (PA) (€100,000 (US$108,000) | 2,000m | 2025 Winner: HM Alchahine / Jean Bernard)
• Gr.1 Qatar Arabian World Cup (PA) (€1,000,000 (US$1,080,000) | 2,000m | 2025 Winner: Al Ghadeer / François Rohaut)
2025 Result and Route to the Final
Al Ghadeer (Al Mourtajez), owned by Al Shaqab Racing, trained by François Rohaut and ridden by Christophe Soumillon, won the 2025 Qatar Arabian World Cup by three-quarters of a length from HM Alchahine, making him the first horse to win the race three years running. His route to Paris traced the Doha path in full: he won the HH The Amir Sword at Doha in February, then the Qatar International Stakes at the Goodwood Festival in August, arriving at ParisLongchamp unbeaten in seven starts at Group One level and completing the "Doha Triple Crown" – Amir Sword, Qatar International Stakes and Qatar Arabian World Cup – for a second time in his career.
Runner-up HM Alchahine (trained by Jean Bernard, ridden by Cristian Demuro) took the shorter European route, winning the Qatar Cup – Prix Dragon at ParisLongchamp the previous month, where he beat fellow finalist Luwsail by four and a half lengths. Luwsail, in turn, had also been runner-up to RB Kingmaker in the Doha Cup at Deauville in August, making the World Cup field a genuine collision of Doha's winter form and Europe's late-summer form.
Notable Winners and Records
Al Ghadeer's 2025 victory made him the first three-time winner of the Qatar Arabian World Cup, surpassing his own sire Al Mourtajez, who won the race twice, in 2015 and 2016. The 2025 win also extended Christophe Soumillon's record in the race, having partnered Al Ghadeer in all three of his victories, and made it three consecutive Group One wins for the jockey across that single Arc Sunday card.
Trainer François Rohaut, who has handled Al Ghadeer for the majority of his career, described the 2025 renewal as the toughest test the horse had faced, given HM Alchahine's own unbeaten record heading into the race. With his connections planning a final start in Doha's HH The Amir Sword before retiring to stud for the 2026 breeding season, Al Ghadeer's run of three straight World Cups – and two Doha Triple Crowns – stands as the benchmark achievement in the race's history to date, and one that will define how future champions of the discipline are judged.