Ezzat Nafs Lands Doha Cup for Sabhea Ibrahim
and Mohamed Elahmed

Ezzat Nafs ridden by Alberto Sanna

WATCH THE RACE

The Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) organised the 11th race meeting in the 2022-23 season at the Al Rayyan Racecourse dirt track on Wednesday, 16 November. The feature and eighth race went to the Sabhea Awad Ibrahim-owned and Mohamed Khaled Elahmed-trained Ezzat Nafs (QA) (AF AlBahar x Bint Al Ajwad) who was given a superb ride Alberto Sanna.
The feature race was a Local Purebred Arabian Conditions for three-year-olds and older.

The 1700m contest had a field of 10 runners, including last year’s winner SEALINE (QA) (Amer), who came to the race as the hot favourite. However, his mission was not easy this time with Ezzat Nafs announcing the challenge as early as the starting gates opened.

Once outside the barrier, Ezzat Nafs dashed directly to take the lead. Soon, she was followed by Shaweesh (QA) (Nizam), who in a matter of strides passed her to take the lead in the early stages. This order remained unchanged throughout the race with the positions behind changing between a few horses including Sealine and his stablemate and half-brother Bakir (QA) (Amer).
Once into the home straight, the real race seemed to begin with Ezzat Nafs closing to take the lead back and both Sealine and Bakir coming with a strong, though a bit late, sweep from behind.

At the 200m mark, it was not easy to anticipate who will be the eventual winner, but soon Ezzat Nafs found that extra to increase the gap between her and her rivals and take the race by half a length. The Wathnan Racing-owned and Alban de Mieulle-trained Sealine and Bakir finished second and third in this order under Soufiane Saadi and Ronan Thomas respectively with only a short head separating them.

Text: Mohamed Saad / Photos: Juhaim QREC