Excitement builds as international horses head to The Kingdom of Bahrain for new Turf Series
The Bahrain Turf Series, introduced to the Bahrain racing programme for this season has attracted a strong lineup of horses from leading trainers in the UK. Derby winning trainer Michael Bell will have two horses taking part in the Turf Series, in the shape of the three-year-old Ace Rothstein and the five-time winner Natural Path. Lambourn-based Charlie Hills who recently ran Pogo to finish 7th in the Bahrain International Trophy returns to the Kingdom of Bahrain with the four-year-old colt King’s Knight.
Another Lambourn raider, Jamie Osborne sends two horses Brains and Peerless. Osborne is well used to campaigning his horses on the international circuit but will be campaigning horses in Bahrain for the first time. His daughter Saffie Osborne will also be making the trip overseas to manage the horses alongside his assistant trainer Jimmy McCarthy.
When discussing his two horses Jamie Osborne said: “Brains will run at the first meeting on December 10 in the 2000m race. He’s been in good form and has won three of his last five races, so he goes there at the top of his game. He will be competing from the bottom of the handicap which gives us a bit of room to manoeuvre and I think he’s going to be pretty competitive.”
On his other horse Peerless he added: “Peerless was bought specifically with the Bahrain Turf Series in mind. He’s bang on the 85 mark, so he will be right at the bottom of the handicap. He’ll run in the six furlong races, and is a horse that is more of a five furlong horse in Britain, but given the configuration of the track in Bahrain, hopefully six furlongs will be his optimum trip.”
Osborne added: “We were keen to get some horses to go. I’ve been everywhere in the Middle East except Bahrain, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing it.”
The first group of horses will arrive in Bahrain on Thursday 2 December and the remaining horses for the Bahrain Turf Series will arrive on Thursday 23 December.
Horses arriving Thursday 2 December:
Horse: Trainer:
ACE ROTHSTEIN (USA) Michael Bell
ARQOOB (IRE) William Jarvis
BRAINS (IRE) Jamie Osborne
DAWAAM (USA) George Baker
HOWZER BLACK (IRE) Keith Dalgleish
KING'S KNIGHT (IRE) Charles Hills
LA MAQUINA (GB) George Baker
MAGICAL WISH (IRE) J.S Moore
NATURAL PATH (IRE) Michael Bell
PEERLESS (IRE) Jamie Osborne
WONDER ELZAAM (IRE) J.S Moore
About the Bahrain Turf Series:
Ten new races have been introduced to the Bahrain race programme specifically targeting international horses. The Bahrain Turf Series will be linked together and run alongside the best racing in Bahrain, including the prestigious King's Cup, Crown Prince's Cup and National Day Grade One.
The race series will have a total of £550,000 prize money fund. £50,000 is allocated per series race with a minimum of £30,000 to the winner. The turf series will also have a bonus point system attached depending on where horses finish. The points will be added and at the end of the series the owner of the horse with the most points in each pot will get £15,000 and the trainer of the horse with most points will get £10,000. This will mean an extra £50,000 in total prize money.
Dates of series races:
Friday 10th December 2021
Friday 31st December 2021
Friday 7th January 2022
Friday 14th January 2022
Friday 21st January 2022
Saturday 5th February 2022
Friday 18th February 2022
Embed interview with Jamie Osborne: https://youtu.be/kfD61qv0IRY
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