As well as the Bahrain International Trophy’s promotion to international Group 3 status the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC), alongside the Asian Pattern Committee (APC), has awarded Listed status to the Al Mehaq Cup, His Majesty the King’s Cup and His Royal Highness The Crown Prince’s Cup.

The upgrade of these four races come at a hugely exciting time for horse racing in Bahrain with the upcoming third running of The Bahrain International Trophy on Friday 19th November 2021 and the start of the new Bahrain Turf Series that commences on Friday 10th December 2021.

The first renewal of the £500,000 Bahrain International Trophy was won by Royal Julius and Bahraini trained Simsir won the race in 2020 in a very close finish with Global Giant and Sovereign.

Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club’s executive director Shaikh Salman bin Rashed Al Khalifa said: “We are thrilled that The Bahrain International Trophy is now a Group 3. The annual race ratings over the last two years have increased and the strength and quality of the race has been extremely high since the first running in 2019. Last year we had numerous individual Group 1 winners and now with the race officially a Group 3 we look forward to building on this and attracting a strong line up of international runners.”