Amir Trophy Meeting Postponed After First Race Spill

[Wandering Eyes]

Officials at the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club, in consultation with horsemen, called off the remainder of Saturday's Amir Trophy and Amir Sword Meeting at Al Rayyan following a nasty spill involving two horses and affecting several others with 400 metres left to race in the first of the day's events, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup over the 1600 metres.

The Ed Bethell-trained Point Lynas (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) was tracked to his outside by the locally owned Surfers Paradise (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) into the straight, but the latter appeared to have the ground go out from under him and fell, casting jockey Szczepan Mazur to the turf over the bowed neck of his mount. The Archie Watson-conditioned defending champion Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation), the mount of Luke Morris, raced in the slipstream of Surfers Paradise into the straight but could not avoid the fallen horse immediately in front of him and went down as well. Mazur, who may have been clipped by Brave Emperor, was sitting up shortly after the incident, while Morris was back on his feet.

Surfers Paradise subsequently galloped off the screen to the right towards the rails and out of view. On the head-on patrol replay, Brave Emperor could be seen galloping slowly through the stretch. Middleham Park Racing, the owners of Brave Emperor, posted that both the horse and Morris were “both up and very thankfully seem to be okay.” No immediate update was available on the Surfers Paradise, while Luck posted that Mazur was transported to hospital with suspected collarbone and leg injuries. This space will be updated when and if information emerges on Surfers Paradise.

The ITM Cup was won by General Panic (GB) (Outstrip {GB}).

Underfoot conditions also wreaked havoc on the second day of the Amir Sword Festival on Friday, as jockeys expressed their disapproval. Following a two-hour delay, racing was allowed to continue and the card was completed. According to further posts from Luck on X, jockeys labeled the newly laid track a 'disgrace' and were refusing to ride the rest of the program. Geoffrey Riddle, on site in Doha, posted that a Godolphin official said that Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) would have been withdrawn from the Amir Trophy had the meeting been allowed to proceed.

According to Luck, the balance of Saturday's program will be transferred to Qatar's second racecourse, Al Uqda, and be run Sunday. The Amir Trophy will have its distance shortened from 2400 to 2300 metres owing to the track configuration at Al Uqda, Luck posted.

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