GOODWOOD will introduce a £400,000 race for Purebred Arabian horses on Nassau Stakes day as leg one of a new Qatar Arabian Triple Crown offering a $1 million bonus to any winner.
The Qatar Harwood International over a mile will be race seven of eight on the final day of Glorious Goodwood on August 1 within a Triple Crown incorporating races at Longchamp on Arc day in October and in Doha next February.
“The Qatar Nassau Stakes is the thoroughbred highlight and the Group 1 Arabian race adds greatly to this card,” said Adam Waterworth, Goodwood’s managing director.
Goodwood chairman Lord March suggested the course’s reputation for combining heritage with innovation made the addition of the new race “a fantastic thing for racing”.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be part of this initiative,” he added. “I am looking forward to great Arabian horses thrilling the crowds.”
The other Triple Crown legs are existing races, the €1m World Cup over 1m2f at Longchamp and HH The Emir’s Sword over 1m4f worth QR3m (£531,000/€725,000).
Genny Haynes, director of the Arabian Racing Organisation, said: “It is extremely exciting to have a race of this stature forming part of the UK Arabian racing calendar.”
Just before Christmas Goodwood unveiled the largest sponsorship package in British racing, a ten-year deal with Qatar which included rebranding the famed five-day gathering as the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
Organisers of the Triple Crown hope to build on this link. Hamad Bin Abdulrahman Al Attiya, president of the Qatar Equestrian Federation, said the Triple Crown represented “a major development in the global promotion of Arabian racing linking three major festivals and strengthening our alliance with European racing”.
Very excited to read this news. I have set the novel I’m writing at present (Consequences) in the gaining momentum world of Arabian Racing here in Australia.