(MENAFN- The Peninsula) River Goddess produced a late surge to win the Umm Al Houl Cup as popular jockey Harry Bentley topped the feature race with a electrifying finish at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) yesterday.
The British jockey posted his 42nd win of the season as River Goddess - trained by Jassim Al Ghazali - exhibited remarkable lung power to surge past Succeed and Excel who was leading the 1200m race after the final bend.
Ridden by Alberto Sanna, Succeed and Excel failed to match the scorching pace of River Goddess who swooped from the outside of the racing pack to nail the top prize of QR57,000.
In third place was Sunley Pride who had Evert Pheiffer in the saddle.
"I love the pace of this horse. He ran extremely well," Bentley said before leaving the race course on way to Dubai.
"He jumped off really well and he was in the position where I wanted him to be. All in all a very good win," the 22-year-old trainer added.
Al Ghazali said: "I am happy for the owners Abdulla Al Kuwari. He is a new horse. He is not an expensive buy for me. He gave me good race."
Earlier, Rebelde timed his charge well to claim victory in the penultimate race of the day as jockey Marco Monteriso clinched his second win of the day.
Rebelde won the 1200m race ahead of Half Turn who was guided by Marvin Suerland. In third place was Rome who was ridden by Gaetan Faucon.
Wonder Of Qatar left most equestrian fans admiring his galloping speed as the three-year-old stormed to a convincing win in race eight. Ridden by Bentley and trained by Al Ghazali, Wonder Of Qatar clocked a time of 1:12.30 to win the 1200m contest a massive six lengths ahead of second-placed White Vin Jan who was ridden by Gary Carter. It was Bentley's 41st win of the season. Red Connect - ridden by Monteriso - finished in third spot in the eight-entry race.
In race seven, Peters Anders emerged a convincing winner, taking the 1800m race ahead of Pearl Bridge and Star Deal.
Suerland - who had finished three races in third place earlier in the day - rode Anders to victory in the QR80,000 race.
In second place was Pearl Bridge - who was ridden by Adrie De Vries - and Star Deal - who had T O'Shea in the saddle.
In race six, Mekhbatt, ridden by Pier Convertino, edged out Maazouz to the top spot in the 1200m race. Hassiba - ridden by O Shea - finished third in the 9-entry race. In race five, Defendant emerged a runaway winner ahead of Go For Broke and Christmas Aria. With jockey O'Shea in the saddle, Defendant went past the winning post ahead of Go For Broke who was ridden by Faleh Bughanaim.
Suerland produced his third podium-finish this time on the back of Christmas Aria.
In race four jockey Alberto Sanna guided Goldenrod to win in the 1800m race ahead of Mudhish and Seamless. Sanna clocked a time of 1:54.84 as Faucon-ridden Mudhish finished second.
In race three, Mullen provided relief to Julian Smart for the second time in the day when he rode Meghwaar to victory over Ashkal and Giude Al Khal.
Mullen rode the Smart-trained entry towards the winnings post with a time of 2:06.29 in the 1800m marathon. In race two, Cedric Segeon rode Man Amongst Men to an easy win over Stealing Thunder - ridden by Monteriso - and Soebroto who had Suerland in the saddle.
Man Amongst Men - who clocked a time of 1:56.29 - topped the 12-horse race five lengths ahead of Stealing Thunder.
In race one, Smart-trained Refaal scored an easy win in the 1200m race, winning with a time of 1:19.22. M Salama-trained Naamah was second while Batel - ridden by W J Lee - was third. The winning margin for Refaal was three lengths over Naamah.
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