sheikh mohammed bin rashid al-maktoum | Horse Racing Free Tips

Lammtarra’s ’95 King George Earns Diamonds and Pearls Award

Lammtarra's 1995 renewal of the G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. was named the latest recipient of the QIPCO Diamonds & Pearls Award. Each year, QIPCO, the official sponsor of the King George, honours a vintage renewal of the race.

Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, the son of Nijinsky II raced in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's nephew, Saeed bin Maktoum al Maktoum. His father, Sheikh Maktoum, bred Lammtarra at his Gainsborough Farm Stud.

Undefeated Lammtarra achieved the rare feat of winning the Epsom Derby, for which he set a track record that was only broken by Workforce in 2010, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe–a remarkable treble that only the legendary Mill Reef had achieved previously.

Partnered by Frankie Dettori in the King George, Lammtarra defeated old rivals, providing his owner, trainer and jockey with their first win in the race.

On Lammtarra's qualities, Dettori said: “He was a special horse. He was like a lion; he loved a fight and was very tenacious. For me, what a horse. He ran four times, retired unbeaten and won the three best races in Europe.”

Following a brief but brilliant career, the regally-bred 3-year-old retired to stand at Sheikh Mohammed's Dalham Hall Stud near Newmarket.

At the end of the 1996 breeding season, Lammtarra was sold to Japanese breeders for $30million to stand at Arrow Stud. Ultimately, Sheikh Mohammed bought his champion back and, in 2006, Lammtarra returned to Dalham Hall Stud. Lammtarra died in 2014.

This year's King George VI, a QIPCO British Champions Series race, takes place at Ascot at 3.40pm Saturday 29 July.

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‘Golden’ Start To Dubai World Cup Carnival For Watson?

by Heather Anderson and J.N. Campbell

With New Year's celebrations firmly in the rearview, racing eyes turn to Dubai, as the $7.5-million Dubai World Cup Carnival kicks off at Meydan Racecourse. The DWCC culminates on Super Saturday, Mar. 4, the warmup for the $30.5-million Dubai World Cup card slated for Mar. 26. Of the seven races carded, five are black-type level and there are a quartet of stakes contests set to be decided in the desert on Friday.

Anchoring the action is the $250,000 G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 Presented by Zabeel Feed, where Golden Goal (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), one of five in the race for American ex-pat trainer Doug Watson, attempts to become the second owner of consecutive victories in the 1,600-metre affair after Le Bernardin (Bernardini) in 2016/17.

Also rated 105 is Watson's Everfast (Take Charge Indy), who was third in both the 2022 G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 and G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3. G3 Burj Nahaar hero Midnight Sands (Speightstown), rated 107, will take part as is Thegreatcollection (Saint Anddan), who won a listed and two other events in Dubai over the years.

Watson, who is aiming for his fourth victory in the race, said, “We have a cast of characters for the mile races. We're still hopeful with Midnight Sands and Golden Goal ran a great race last time. He only got beaten by four lengths and he always needs his first run for us. He's having a really nice season training and he'll be tough on the night.”

Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Prince Eiji (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is another entry who appears poised for a big year for Watson, and he ran out a 1 1/4-length victor in the Listed Dubai Creek Mile over track and trip on December 1.

“What we liked about it most was that he was vying for the lead with Danyah, took back a little bit and then really grabbed the bit,” said Watson of Prince Eiji. “So we know he can come from off the pace and we learned a lot that night, plus he's strengthened up a lot this year.”

The quintet will not have an easy time of it, however, with Bhupat Seemar sending out Secret Ambition (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) to build on his 2021 G2 Godolphin Mile heroics among others.

Sire Dubawi On Global Stakes Cusp In Al Fahidi Fort

The internationally successful Charlie Appleby comes into the Dubai World Cup Carnival looking to win his fifth Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort S. in six years. He enters Godolphin's Noble Truth (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) and Al Suhail (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), a well-bred four-year-old and six-year-old, respectively.

Both members of the home team are coming off of lay-offs with the former last seen winning impressively at Royal Ascot in the G3 Jersey S., while the latter ended up seventh at Ascot in the G3 Bengough S. in October. Darley's Dubawi, also represented in this race by Dubai Mirage (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), is one shy of 250 individual global stakes winners.

Not to be outdone, Shadwell looks to make its presence known with six-year-old Alfareeq (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). This experienced turf specialist knows Meydan well, especially since he won last year's G1 Jebel Hatta S. in fine style. He prepped for this spot with a second place finish in Abu Dhabi in a listed race December 4.

Other notable runners include French trainer Yann Barberot's Bouttemont (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) and Fast Raaj (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). The latter will be making the surface switch from the Polytrack to the turf after he won his second consecutive race in Deauville on December 10, after being gelded earlier in the month.

Classy Switzerland Begins Shaheen Title Defense

Taking to the dirt for the G3 Dubawi S., the prep that offers automatic entry into the G1 Golden Shaheen on World Cup night, we find nine-year-old stalwart sprinter Switzerland (Speightstown) poised to turn back time in his search for more Dubai World Cup night glory as the defending champion. “Hopefully he's still got the spark; I think I can see it on the track in the mornings,” said his trainer Bhupat Seemar. “We got to know him better last season, we'd had him for a year by then, so we got to know his habits and his quirks which really helped.”

Ready to face him are a number of worthy challengers which includes Shadwell Stable's Mubakker (Speightstown), who has not been seen since last year's G2 Godolphin Mile, a race in which he finished fifth. His dam, Ready To Act, produced Prouver in 2020, a filly that sold for $310,000 as a Keeneland September yearling one year later; and a filly by Omaha Beach that brought $250,000 at the same sale in 2022.

A couple of local runners have been drawn in for this Group 3 opportunity, among them Mouheeb (Flatter), who won the Listed Al Garhoud Sprint on December 9 and he returns for Michael Costa. “He's quite a strong, robust horse and he showed he was quite sharp in his trackwork,” the trainer said about the five-year-old, who won G3 UAE 2000 Guineas in 2021. “It was so good to see him at Meydan; he really put his ears back and was determined to win.”

Listed Races Dot Carnival Card on Friday

The 2,410-metre Dubai Racing Club Classic, a turf handicap with $100,000 on the line, includes a trio of Charlie Appleby runners, namely, the group-placed Walk Of Stars (GB), who is another striving to give his sire Dubawi (Ire) 250 individual black-type winners.

Rounding out the Friday card is the 1,000-metre Listed Ertijaal Dubai Dash on the turf, that brings together a strong group of sprinters, including Godolphin's Man Of Promise (Into Mischief), who was third behind A Case Of You (Ire) (Hot Streak {Ire}) in last year's G1 Al Quoz Sprint.

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Fishman Reveals $2 Million ‘Program’ With Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Equine Hospital

Closing arguments were a late scratch Jan. 31 in the horse doping trial of veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman being held in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
New York U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil met the lawyers for both sides in the robing and then called the jury into the courtroom and sent them home. She told the jurors to return to court Feb. 1.
“There has developed legal issues that need to be dealt with,” Vyskocil told the jury of eight women and four men.
But Fishman's absence in court only deepened the mystery. His wife, Hanna, was in the courtroom in the morning and at one point appeared to be visibly upset. He's free on $100,000 bond and has appeared in court for each of the trial's previous eight sessions.
The only other clue as to what was happening came when Fishman attorney Maurice Sercarz appeared in the courtroom after the jury had been dismissed and told the judge Fishman was on his way to the hospital.
“We are in open court,” Vyskocil said Sercarz in admonishment.
Sercarz and his co-counsel Marc Fernich and prosecutors declined further comment.
Lawyers showed up in the afternoon for another conference in the robing room. The day ended with Vyskocil never returning to the bench.
The closing arguments were set to begin after the prosecution rested its case and the defense rested without calling a single witness, including Fishman. The jury has heard five days of testimony from 11 government witnesses.
Fishman, 50, is on trial on for conspiring to violate medication adulteration and misbranding laws. He's accused of supplying horse trainers with illegal performance-enhancing drugs designed to evade testing by racing regulators in various states, including Florida, New York, and Kentucky.
Sercarz says the actions his client has been accused of were carried out to protect the health and welfare of horses in keeping with his oath as a licensed veterinarian.
Prosecutors allege that Fishman was part of a sweeping conspiracy to dope racehorses that included top trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis and two dozen others. The New York U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charges in March 2020.
Servis is awaiting trial and Navarro has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty.
Servis' name hasn't come up in testimony, but Navarro's name has come up numerous times. Prosecutors said Navarro paid Fishman tens of thousands of dollars for PEDs.
The jury saw a video of Navarro's doped X Y Jet winning a $2.5 million race in Dubai in 2019. In a text seen by the jury after the race Navarro thanked Fishman for his help.
During the trial prosecutors also played an FBI wiretap in which Navarro was recorded speaking to Fishman.
Another prominent name that emerged in court in one of the wiretaps was that of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the owner of the international successful Godolphin racing stable.
On the wiretap Fishman appears to discuss a $2 million “program” with the Sheikh's hospital in Dubai, known as Dubai Equine.
On the other end of the line in the 2019 call was Florida harness trainer Adrienne Hall, who testified Thursday that Fishman put her on a program with his PEDs and that she administered the drugs to a horse that won a low-level claiming racing. Hall agreed to testify in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.
A transcript of the wiretap obtained Monday begins with Fishman telling Hall that his program “is not instantaneous.”
“Right, so ok, because they are racing on Sunday—they are going to be in on Monday. I gave the other stuff today anyway,” Hall says.
Fishman then goes on to say that it takes one or two weeks to start things.
“This is a program,” he says. “This is a program that Dubai Equine spent probably $2 million devising for their Thoroughbreds, you know? It is part of a program that uh, you know…there's other stuff too.”
Fishman goes on to say that he was bringing Hall on slowly.
Fishman adds, “This is what they do for all their horses and overall, they are very happy. Shiekh (sic) Mohammed Maktum (sic) said the best three years, you know, in the 30 years he has been racing and they are very happy. So, I'm sharing stuff with you. But then again that's for Thoroughbreds so we just have to tweak something out because some of the stuff I design for Standardbreds, they don't work.”
A tally shows the wiretap was one of 55 recordings the jury heard in the case. Almost all of them involved Fishman.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Saudi Cup Winner Mishriff Extends Middle East’s Racing Legacy

The victory of last year's Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) winner Mishriff (by Make Believe) in the 2021 Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 was a fascinating piece of international sporting competition, and the result highlighted a couple of interesting points.

One is that international racing has resoundingly shifted the basis and emphasis of winter racing to the warmer climates, especially those of the Middle East. The second is that one of the architects of that shift in emphasis, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum of the UAE, has almost single-handedly also managed the continuation of one of the handsomest and most talented branches of the Mr. Prospector line.

Although neither owned nor bred by one of the Maktoum entities, Mishriff is an extension of the line descending from Mr. Prospector's elegant and highly talented son Seeking the Gold, bred and owned by Ogden Phipps and a stallion at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky for his entire career. Sheikh Mohammed bred the best son of Seeking the Gold, the once-beaten Dubai Millennium, whose nine victories included four Group 1 races: Dubai World Cup, Prince of Wales's Stakes, Prix Jacques le Marois, and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

A remarkably handsome horse who stayed 10 furlongs well, Dubai Millennium went to stud with great expectations. This exceptional animal, however, fell victim to grass sickness and died part-way through his first season at stud in 2001. He left behind only 56 foals born the next year, and yet from that small group comes the continuation of this line of Mr. Prospector.

Although the sire of several good horses from his first crop, the star was Dubawi, a winner of three Group 1 races: National Stakes at two; the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Jacques le Marois at three. Second in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II and third in the G1 Derby Stakes at Epsom, Dubawi stayed quite well, although he was a touch off his amazing sire for absolute ability.

Sent to stud at four in 2006, Dubawi has been a revelation as a stallion, siring 52 G1 winners to date and standing now for 250,000 euros (US$303,638) for a live foal. Among the stallion's G1 winners are the highweighted Ghaiyyath (Coronation Cup and Eclipse Stakes) and Too Darn Hot (Dewhurst), as well as the classic winners Night of Thunder (2,000 Guineas), New Bay (Prix du Jockey Club), and Makfi (2,000 Guineas).

The latter was rated the top 3-year-old miler in Europe in 2010 and entered stud in 2011. From Makfi's first crop came Make Believe, a smooth bay colt who won a pair of G1 races: the 2015 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) and Prix de la Foret. Those efforts were enough to give Make Believe the top ranking among the French 3-year-old colts in 2015.

The next year, however, his sire Makfi was sold to Japan. In the fall of 2016, the Japanese Bloodstock Breeders' Association announced that they had purchased Makfi to stand in Japan at the JBBA Stallion Station.

Typically, the exit abroad of a stallion when his first crop are only four is a decidedly negative sign. Makfi's top son, Make Believe, however, went to stud in 2016 and has proceeded to go from strength to greater strength.

With his first crop now four, Make Believe has sired French classic winner Mishriff, and that colt is a key to the enduring fortunes of this line because Mishriff's owner-breeder, Prince A.A. Faisal, also owned and raced Make Believe.

As a weanling, Make Believe sold to Hugo Merry for 180,000 guineas at the 2012 Tattersalls mixed sale and went into training with Andre Fabre for Prince Faisal. After winning a pair of G1s at three, Make Believe went to stud in Ireland at Ballylinch Stud, where he stands today.

Mishriff is from his sire's first crop and is the third stakes horse from three racers out of the mare Contradict, a daughter of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Raven's Pass (Elusive Quality). The mare's earlier produce are the listed stakes winner Orbaan (Invincible Spirit) and multiple G3-placed Momkin (Bated Breath).

Prince Faisal's Nawara Stud bred the colt in Ireland, and he is the fourth generation of the family owned by Prince Faisal. Nawara Stud bred Mishriff's third dam Rafha (Kris) from the Artaius mare Eljaazi, and the elegant chestnut won the 1990 Prix de Diane at Chantilly.

Sent to stud, Rafha produced four stakes winners, three stakes-placed performers, and a pair of high-quality stallions. First among those was the mare's fifth foal, G1 winner Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), who included Haydock's Sprint Cup among his six victories and who has become an overachieving sire in Europe as an influence for speed and durability. The less-expected sire from Rafha is Kodiac (Danehill), whose best racecourse achievement was a second in a G3 stakes but who has been a marvel at producing speed and precocity. He is the leading sire of 2-year-old winners for a single season with 61.

Two years younger than Kodiac is the now 18-year-old Acts of Grace (Bahri), a G3 stakes-winning daughter of Rafha and the dam of Contradict.

Mishriff is the last reported foal of his dam, but Contradict is in foal to the great Frankel (Galileo) for 2021.

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