(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The owner of the winning horse in the three-leg Qatar Arabian Triple Crown initiative will bag an additional sum of $1m, it was announced yesterday.
The three-stop series will kick-off at the Goodwood Festival in England on August 1 before reaching Longchamp Racecourse in Paris for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October this year.
The Qatar Arabian Triple Crown will conclude on the day of the H H The Emir's Sword race at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) in Doha next February.
The first race of the lucrative series, designed to promote Arabian horse racing and breeding, will take place at the week-long Qatar Goodwood Festival, set to be held from July 27 to August 1 - Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) President Hamad Abdulrehman Al Attiyah said.
"We have officials from Goodwood, Paris and Doha. In Goodwood, the race will be run over 1600m. In Longchamps, we will have the World Cup to be run over 2000m while in Doha we will have the Emir's Sword that will be contested over a distance of 2400m. This series will start in 2015 and end in 2016," Al Attiyah said.
"The bonus will be a million dollars. I think it's the first time that a Triple Crown series will offer such a bonus. It is up to the riders to find a good horse. The same horse should win all three races to bag the million-dollar prize," Al Attiyah pointed out.
"We are working on the television coverage. Live TV coverage will help us reach millions and millions of homes around the world over the three racing festivals. There are channels which cover these races already. In Qatar, we should be able to finalise contracts soon," he said.
"I want to thank Lord March who has given us the opportunity to run this race at Goodwood. We are partners now with them as we are with officials in Paris. Also, I would like to thank Genny that she has given us the Howard Stakes in Goodwood. We look forward to doing more races in the coming years," Al Attiyah added.
Lord March, owner of Goodwood, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be part of this series - the Triple Crown initiative. We are looking forward to seeing some great Arabian race horses in action that would thrill crowds the world over. Like any Triple Crown, we see a special horse come along and do well. Such series generate a lot of excitement. This series will generally promote Arabian racing."
Adam Waterworth, the man in charge of Goodwood Racecourse, said: "We will fit this race into the card as the seventh race on the eight-race card. We will see a really great day of racing - Qatar National Stakes - Group 1 - this will really add to the card."
Genny Haynes, IFAHR Vice-chairman and Executive Board Member, said: "It's very exciting for us in the UK. We are honoured to be selected as the first stop of this prestigious series."
"The support we are getting from QREC over the (last) couple of years is something we are grateful for. This series will also benefit the breeders and the trainers at many levels. This new initiative will become part of British racing in a major way. We have been working with our friends in Qatar over this project for more than one year. We are delighted to be part of this initiative. It was a great experience to be part of this project," she added.
Al Attiyah said Qatar has turned a new leaf in horse racing and showjumping. "The Qatar showjumping team has qualified for 2016 Olympics - it's the first time that we have qualified for the Games. The team did it last week," Al Attiyah said.
"We started this program three years ago with the support of our leaders in Qatar - to show our riders what it takes to be at the top stage. Last week we saw our riders win a 50 in Monaco and this week we qualified for the finals in Las Vegas. It's been a lucky week for us. The boys worked hard. We also bought good horses for our riders. Everything turned out really well," Al Attiyah added.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.