X Force, winner of Umm Al Houl Cup.
Doha: Producing a well-timed lunge at the final stretch, X Force - ridden by Soufiane Saadi - yesterday grabbed the honours in the Umm Al Houl Cup at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club racecourse.
Trained by Ibrahim Saeed Ibrahim Al Malki, X Force clocked a time of 1:10.15 in the dirt race. Saadi won the top prize of QR57,000 in the 1200m race held under lights at the QREC racecourse in Al Rayyan Park.
Izzthatright, who had J P Guillambert in the saddle, secured the second spot while Cristofano Allori, who was ridden by Ronan Thomas, clinched the third place. All three were Irish entries.
Guillambert won QR22,000 while Thomas got richer by QR 11,000.
Team members of X Force (IRE) posing for a photograph with the officials after winning the Umm Al Houl cup, the feature race of the day.
Earlier Thomas managed a winning run with Sealine as he won the top spot in the 1200m race that offered QR75,000 in prize money. Sealine, trained by Alban Elie Marie De Mieulle, clocked a time of 1:18.65 as Thomas won QR42,750.
Saadi, astride Barra, clinched the second spot and won QR 16,500. Kasser, who had Alberto Sanna in the saddle, finished third. Trained by Mohammed Ali Yousef Al Sheeb, Kasser’s thirdplace finish got Sanna QR8,250.
In the seventh running of the day - the Purebred Arabian Claiming Race for 4-year-olds - Marco Casamento guided Chaval De Ghazal to the top spot. Chaval De Ghazal clocked a time of 2:09.05 in the 1800m race. The Mohammed Gassim Ghazali-trained entry looked impressive, winning with a margin of 2 furlongs.
Casamento won QR57,000. Another Ghazali-trained entry, Anees - who had Eduardo Pedroza in the saddle - finished in second place which was worth QR22,000. Rashid Ali AlMarri, astride Echo De Faust, settled for the third spot worth QR11,000.
