Strong field of 14 set for 2020 Bahrain International Trophy

TDT I Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A final field of 14 has been confirmed for the £500,000 Bahrain International Trophy on Friday 20 November after the supplementary stage closed.

A total of five Group 1 winners will head to post: 2019 Irish Derby hero Sovereign (Aidan O’Brien), Japanese super mare Deirdre (Mitsuru Hashida), last year’s Queen Anne Stakes winner Lord Glitters (David O’Meara), dual Canadian International Stakes winner Desert Encounter (David Simcock) and last year’s Jebel Hatta victor Dream Castle (Saeed bin Su- roor).

Quadruple Group 1 winner Barney Roy has suffered a minor setback and will miss the race, but Godolphin will still be doubly represented in the shape of Royal Ascot winner Dark Vision (Mark Johnston) and Dream Castle.

Last week it was announced that Aidan O’Brien had supplemented Sovereign for a fee of £10,000. The son of Galileo, who is owned by John Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith, will become Ballydoyle’s first ever runner in Bahrain.

Aidan O’Brien said: “Sover- eign is a strong mile and a quarer horse. He is a very strong galloper who likes to go forward in his races and we think the Bahrain International Trophy will suit him.”

John Gosden finished 2nd with Turgenev in the inaugural race last year and will be hoping to go one better with Global Giant. Global Giant will be ridden by Frankie Dettori and the colt is owned HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman Alkhalifa.

Andrew Balding and King Power Racing are returning for another attempt at the £500,000 contest. Having finished 6th with Pivoine in 2019, they are hoping Bangkok can land the spoils on November 20.

Completing the European lineup are Lady Wannabe (Fozzy Stack), Certain Lad (Mick Channon), Pogo (Charlie Hills) and Quest The Moon (Sarah Steinberg).

Two spots in the field are guaranteed for locally trained horses. The two Bahraini trained horses confirmed are Port Lions (Fawzi Naas) and What A Welcome (Hesham Al Haddad).

Shaikh Salman bin Rashed Al-Khalifa, Executive Direc- tor of Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the class of horses that we have attracted to this year’s Bahrain International Trophy. To have five individual Group 1 winners in the field compared to only one last year shows the leap in quality. We are very grateful to the trainers and owners for placing their trust in Bahrain and we very much look forward to welcoming them to Bahrain.”