This was only Tawaareq’s second run in Bahrain, having been bought from the UK in August and was previously trained in Newmarket by Sir Michael Stoute.

Once Tawaareq hit the front in the final furlong he always looked the winner and secured a convincing two length victory over his 12 rivals. He denied stablemate Mars Landing another Series victory, who finished fourth behind Medal Winner in second and Arqoob in third.

Trainer Hesham Al Haddad, who at this half-way stage of the inaugural Bahrain Turf Series is the leading trainer with four wins out of five, was quick to thank the whole team and said: “I think the big congratulations must go to the whole team, the owners and Mr Fawzi Nass who planned this all. We are very proud to have won four out of the five races which have taken place and hopefully there are many more to come.”

The Hesham Al Haddad and Fawzi Nass training operation had hoped that Tawaareq would run well with jockey David Egan opting for the ride on him over another Victorious Racing-owned runner, Classical Wave. Hesham Al Haddad added: “We had high hopes for Tawaareq today and David (Egan) chose well. He had the choice to ride either Tawaareq or Classical Wave but he opted to ride Tawaareq.”

On Tawaareq’s plans for the future, having clearly taken to racing in Bahrain very well, Hesham Al Haddad said: “We will see Tawaareq again in future Turf Series races, but we may even speak to connections and see if they would like to race him internationally but that’s up to them and we’ll see how he comes out of this race.”

Best of the international horses was the William Jarvis trained Arqoob. Having his third run in Bahrain, Arqoob was back to good form having finished second in his first run, but disappointed last time out. Jockey Kieran Shoemark, who made the trip from Britain to Bahrain again to ride, was very pleased with the horse’s effort and said: “The race worked out really well for me and Arqoob. They went a fair gallop and we were in a much more prominent position this time so we had no excuses. He ran a cracker and I thought we were going to get there but he just galloped and lacked that turn of gear.”

Shoemark is becoming a regular rider in the Bahrain Turf Series and will be returning for next week's Al Jasra Cup. He added: “I’m here next week for Charlie Hills and hopefully Arqoob will have one more run.”

Final Finishing Positions:

Al Riffa Cup, 10f

1. Tawaareq

2. Medal Winner

3. Arqoob

4. Mars Landing

5. Giustino

6. Classical Wave

7. Pistoletto

8. Dawaam

9. Zezenia

10. Wait Forever

11. Magical Wish

12. Macaque

13. Howzer Black

Embed interview with Hesham Al Haddad and Kieran Shoemark: https://youtu.be/2zR1eDzPIno

Download interview with Hesham Al Haddad and Kieran Shoemark: https://we.tl/t-CLd8lidf94