The Bahrain Turf Club could not have picked two better equine ambassadors to promote its ambitions than Spirit Dancer and Isle Of Jura, whose wins in the latest runnings of its two most important races provided a platform for the kind of publicity money cannot buy.
Now the Turf Club’s fast-evolving programme is set for another major boost through the installation of floodlights, which will both elevate the spectacle and just as importantly enable Bahrain to host its best racing within its international calendar.
Sir Alex Ferguson, as part-owner and joint-breeder, had no hesitation in hailing his delight at Spirit Dancer’s win in last November’s $1m Group 2 Bahrain International Trophy as “the best ever in racing, without question.” When the Richard Fahey-trained gelding went on to follow up in the even more valuable Neom Turf Cup at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, it was just the endorsement that the newly upgraded race wanted.
Fast forward to the three-month Bahrain Turf Series and George Scott’s Isle Of Jura, bought specifically for the purpose on behalf of Shaikh Nasser’s Victorious Racing, won four of his five races and pulled off a notional ‘Triple Crown’ of sorts, after which Scott described the thrill as “unbelievable” and “the absolute pinnacle of my career so far.”
Once again, that was not the end of the story. Isle Of Jura won a Listed race at Goodwood on his return and followed that up with such a spectacular success in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot that he’d have had a live chance against Goliath and company in the King George but for an unfortunate setback.
Ed Veale, the Bahrain Turf Club’s Director of Racing and International Relations, could not have scripted it better himself.
“Sir Alex’s horse winning was a PR dream and a very special day,” Veale agrees, “but then for Spirit Dancer to go on and win in Saudi showed how good he was.
“Then Isle Of Jura embodied what the Bahrain Turf Series was set up to do in terms of having progressive handicappers come and win what were domestic Grade 1 races and which, since the Bahrain Turf Series’ inception, have established themselves as internationally recognised races. He won three of our most important races of the season, including both the Crown Prince Cup and the King’s Cup.”
The Bahrain International Trophy is something of a standalone event for which international challengers fly in and out. Its positioning makes it an attractive option at the end of the European season, especially for fast-ground horses.
I’m sure it’ll be really important for the coming years
Recent winners have also been trained by David O’Meara and Saeed bin Suroor, while there have been runners too from a who’s who of top trainers, including both Aidan and Joseph O’Brien, Charlie Appleby, Andrew Balding, Ralph Beckett, John and Thady Gosden and Jessica Harrington.
French maestro Andre Fabre, no less, paid it a handsome compliment when he visited for the first time last November, saying: “More and more we have to go for the international competition and Bahrain is part of the circuit. I’m sure it’ll be really important for the coming years.”
With the Bahrain International Trophy having been so successfully upgraded, the focus now is on the Bahrain Turf Series, the initiative launched in 2021 to attract international runners to compete in Bahrain and which targets horses rated between 85-102 to compete against locally-trained horses, of whom there are currently north of 600, many of them imported.
Three years after its launch, it was felt the time was right to build on the success of the series and expand the international programme to incorporate all the premier races from the second half of the season. With that in mind, the new floodlights will allow much greater flexibility and they will mitigate some of the programming issues created by Ramadan, which advances by ten days every year.
For 2024-25, the series has been expanded to comprise 12 races, now worth a total of $1 million, with a further $80,000 available in bonuses. It will start later, on December 20, and run until March 7, with two additional handicaps, each worth $100,000, set to be run alongside the King’s Cup at the season’s finale weekend.
All of the premier races in the second half of the season will now fall within the dates of the international programme, which makes it easier for horses to follow the Isle Of Jura path.
The Crown Prince’s Cup, the Shaikh Nasser Cup, Al Methaq Mile and the King’s Cup, along with further valuable races, will now all fall within the same window of the international programme as the 12 Bahrain Turf Series races.
Veale says: “It’s fantastic to have floodlights now, as it unlocks such flexibility with the programme going forward. It has been an ambition of the Bahrain Turf Club, and so we are proud to have achieved it.
“We’ve been able to add the two additional handicaps, but more importantly the floodlights mean that the three-month window during which the internationals are here will now conclude at the two-day King’s Cup fixture in early March, which we are trying to elevate as an international day.
“Without floodlights, you start having to move key fixtures just when you are trying to establish them. The floodlights ensure that our key races retain their position in the calendar both for the sake of trainers, but also within the region, so the King’s Cup will stay typically two or three weeks after the Saudi Cup and around three weeks before the Dubai World Cup.
“The King’s Cup is currently at Listed level, but we hope that in years to come it will have Group status and will be attracting better horses year on year. Isle Of Jura can only have helped in that respect.”
Scott rents his Newmarket stables from Fawzi Nass, who is a long-time owner in the UK and also a significant trainer in his native Bahrain, so it was only natural that he would look at the opportunities there. Having sent one runner for the Bahrain Turf Series as a ‘sighter’ two winters ago, he knew what was required and last winter could not have gone better.
you are so well looked after
He hopes to send a significantly bigger team this time, when he anticipates plenty of new names will be joining him and other regulars who include George Baker, Hugo Palmer, Sean and John Quinn and Ian Williams.
Scott says: “We’ve got a strong connection to Bahrain through my landlord Fawzi Nass and it was always an ambition to send horses out there.
“When you get there, you are so well looked after. The stables are fantastic – all new, with air conditioning – and the training facilities are great too, with two different tracks, a big one and a small one, and two different surfaces.”
The training tracks and two turf tracks, an outer track of 2,300m round with a straight 1,200m chute, and a slightly shorter inner track, both flat and right-handed, are expertly managed by former Chelmsford City Clerk of the Course Andy Waitt, who succeeded Neil Mackenzie Ross last October and is loving life in Bahrain.
Plenty of other familiar faces can be found in key positions, including the BHA’s former Head of Stewarding Paul Barton and racecourse vet Rob Van Pelt.
The facilities are all being constantly upgraded and drew praise from Scott, who says: “The actual track is very fair. It’s fast ground, but it’s level and very safe. Isle Of Jura was very comfortable on it.
“The prize-money is really good. Handicaps which might be for £30,000 here are $100,000 there, and they are arguably a little weaker, although I suspect racing will continue to become more competitive.
“The Bahraini people are the kindest and everyone gets incredibly well looked after. They want you there and they want you to have a good time. There are great hotels close to the racecourse and it’s just a really great experience all round.”
He adds: “We know how it works out there now and Rocket Rodney won a $80,000 race for us too last winter, so we are trying to put together a proper team of between five and ten, some of which will be horses already in the yard and others we’ll probably buy.
“I should think Isle Of Jura has done a really good job of promoting racing there and they’ve increased the prize-money again, so I’d hope that they get really well supported.”
There can’t be much doubt about that.
