Bahrain Turf Series

The Covex Kid (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) and Mobaadel (Speightstown) gave jockey Neil Callan, trainer Hesham Al Haddad and Al Mohemediya Racing a double as the Bahrain Turf Series continued on Friday. The Al Adiyat Cup, an 1800-metre conditions race and local Bahraini Group 2, went to The Covex Kid, who was winning his second race of the Bahrain Turf Series after taking the Al Dana Cup last out. It was also a trifecta for Al Haddad, who also trains the runner-up Tawaareq (Ire) (Shamardal) and the third home, Zagato (GB)...

George Baker and David O'Meara celebrated valuable, big-race success with a victory apiece on the opening day of the 2022-23 Bahrain Turf Series. Locally trained horses won nine of the 10 races in last season's Bahrain Turf Series, but the opening race of this season, the Al Muharraq Cup, went the way of Lucander (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) with Pat Cosgrove aboard. Now trained by Baker, Lucander was last seen when finishing eight in the Cambridgeshire H. at Newmarket for Ralph Beckett. Making his first start for connections, the gelding stormed...

The second edition of the Bahrain Turf series, worth £650,000, will begin on Friday, Dec. 9. A total of 19 European horses have shipped in for the series, which pits international challengers against locally trained horses across 10 races divided between Pot A (sprinters) and Pot B (nine-to 10 furlong horses). After the Turf Series concludes, points are added and the owner of the leading horse in each category will earn a £15,000 bonus, and the trainer will receive a £10,000 bonus. The 10-furlong Al Muharraq Cup and the five-furlong...

The Bahrain Turf Club has announced an increase in purse money to the tune of 20% for the 2022 Bahrain International Trophy and the Bahrain Turf Series. That means that the total prize fund for the G3 Bahrain International Trophy will rise to £600,000 for 2022. Along with that, the 10 Bahrain Turf Series races will be run for £60,000 apiece. First run in 2019 as a conditions race, the Bahrain International Trophy was upgraded to Group 3 status last year, with Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) edging out Barney Roy...

After two months and ten races, the curtain came down on the inaugural Bahrain Turf Series on Friday, with the results of the final two contests having both international and local appeal. Britain's champion trainer Charlie Appleby fielded his first runners of the series in the seven-furlong Al Sakhir Cup and duly landed the spoils with Silent Film (GB) (New Approach {GB}), who rallied under a strong drive from James Doyle to win by a head from Shebil Aljazira (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). The 4-year-old winner was landing his...

We have grown accustomed to being able to enjoy some decent midwinter racing action from the Middle East since the start of the Dubai International Racing Carnival in 2004. The Dubai World Cup, for so long the world's richest race bar a temporary interruption to that status by the Pegasus World Cup, has been usurped in recent years by the $20 million Saudi Cup, which is set for its third running in 2022.  The Bahrain International Trophy was recently staged for a third year, and for the first time it...

Fields have been confirmed for the first two races of the £550,000 Bahrain Turf Series on Friday. One of 16 in the seven-furlong £50,000 Al Manama Cup is Natural Path (Ire) (Toronado {Ire}), one of two from Michael Bell for the opening card. His stablemate Ace Rothstein  (More Than Ready) is bound for the £50,000 1 1/4-mile Al Muharraq Cup later on the card, which features 15 horses. Bell's son Nick is on hand to oversee the five-time winner and dual scorer, respectively. Nick Bell said of Natural Path, "He...

In conversation with Neil Callan, you would never guess that the nickname given to the jockey in Hong Kong was 'The Iron Man'. He is quietly spoken with a soft Irish lilt that indicates his nation of birth, despite the fact that he refers to his return to England in July as "coming home". Newmarket is indeed home to his wife Trish, whose grandfather David Ringer trained successfully for many years from Saffron House Stables, where he lives still and which is now leased to the swiftly rising George Boughey....

The inaugural £550,000 10-race Bahrain Turf Series begins in the Kingdom of Bahrain on Dec. 10, and several UK trainers are sending runners to compete. Consisting of 10 £50,000 handicaps, the series will last through Feb. 18, 2022. Based in Lambourn is trainer Jamie Osborne, who will ship in the pair of Brains (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) and Peerless (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). His daughter Saffie will help manage the horses with Osborne's assistant trainer Jimmy McCarthy. Jamie Osborne said, "Brains will run at the first meeting on Dec. 10 in...

SAKHIR, Bahrain--Old habits die hard. Neil MacKenzie Ross may have been Clerk of the Course at Sakhir racecourse in Bahrain for the last seven years but even in 24-degree heat at 7am, the British ex-pat was easy to spot in the green wellies in which he doubtless completed plenty of laps of Lingfield when he filled the same role at the Sussex course. "There is quite a thick dew," he said with a defensive grin as he awaited the arrival of the 14 runners for Friday's Bahrain International Trophy for...

The £550,000 10-racing Bahrain Turf Series, specifically targeting international horses rated 85-100, was announced on Thursday. All the races in the series, each worth £50,000, will be linked together and run alongside Bahrain's King's Cup, Crown Prince's Cup and National Day Grade 1. There will also have a bonus point system attached to the Bahrain Turf Series, depending on where horses finish. At the end of the series, points will be added up and the owner of the horse with the most points in each pot will get £15,000 and...