Alberto Sanna

Multiple Classic winner Seamie Heffernan, Royal Ascot-winning teenager Billy Loughnane and French Group 1 scorer Marie Vélon are among the 12 jockeys today confirmed to ride in Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot. Nine countries will be represented across the four teams, while new ground is broken this year with an equal number of male and female jockeys for the first time in the history of the Shergar Cup. Vélon, the first French female jockey to win a French Group 1 race with her victory in the 2022...

Alberto Sanna had twice previously won Qatar's biggest and richest race, the HH The Amir Trophy, but he could not contain his emotions after putting a perfect steer on former Ballydoyle inmate and now Hong Kong-based Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to take Saturday's US$2.5-million event in Doha. Sanna was himself part of the ultra-competitive collection of riders in Hong Kong for two seasons, but managed a strike rate of just 4.6%. To make matters worse, he was handed a 10-meeting suspension in late 2019 and his Hong Kong license...

Making a remarkable fifth straight appearance in the marquee race on the Qatar racing calendar, the US$1-million H.H. The Amir Trophy, Al Wasmiyah Farm's Noor Al Hawa (Fr) (Makfi {GB}) took advantage of a soft trip attending a modest pace and raced away to a convincing victory Saturday in Doha. Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}), who nearly took out the 2020 G1 St Leger S., came home second ahead of last year's Qatar Derby hero Hellenistique (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in third. The Amir Trophy is one of three...