3 August 2015, UK ~ The £400,000 ($623,420) Group I Qatar International Stakes, the first leg of the Doha Triple Crown was won by Sir Bani Yas.

The HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan owned Sir Bani Yas came up from the outside under Jean-Bernard Eyquem and produced a late stretch run to overtake Prada T and Mister Ginoux at the finish.

Sir Bani Yas (Amer x Nassem El Baher) is trained by Elizabeth Bernard in the name of her late husband, Jean-Francois, who passed away earlier this year. It was an emotional moment for Elizabeth, while leading Sir Bani Yas into the winners enclosure.

The five-year old French-bred won the 10-furlong French Derby at Chantilly in 2014 and his lasting stamina helped him to overrun Prada T in the shadow of the winning post. Third in was favorite, Mister Ginoux carrying the colours of Al Shaqab Racing.

Run over one mile Saturday’s race was the first leg of the inaugural Doha Triple Crown, a valuable new series with a $1 Million bonus for any horse that can claim all three races. The second leg is the 2000m Qatar Arabian World Cup, run at Longchamp in October, with the final leg in Doha in February, the 2400m HH The Emir’s Sword.

An emotional Elizabeth Bernard said. “This is a great victory for us. I followed whatever my husband taught me for 21 years. I did not change a thing and everything went well for us. The next target is definitely the second leg at Longchamp but we will make this call after meeting the owner in the next 10 days.”

Alex Bishop, representing winning owner Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan, said: “Sir Bani Yas really finished inside the final furlong. The jockey asked him and he delivered.”

Goodwood Racecourse had announced in February the 10-year partnership with Qatar, the single biggest sponsorship deal ever done for the benefit of British racing. The partnership will invest over £2 million into prize money for eight key races during the Qatar Goodwood Festival 2015 as well as a commitment to increase this year-to-year. Total prize money on offer for the week now totals £4.5 million, with Qatar once again demonstrating their passion and support for British racing.

Final Results:

[gview file=”https://horsereporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Goodwood-1-August-Results.pdf” save=”1″] ~ends