Royal Julius ridden by Stephane Pasquier stormed to success to win the Bahrain International Trophy at the Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club in Sakhir.
It is owned by jubilant Jean-Jacques Biarese and trained by a delighted Jerome Reynier. Royal Julius beat favourite Turgenev ridden by Robert Havlin with a time of 13:41:47.
In third came Rustang and fourth was Afaak in a race with 13 runners after Euginio suffered a fall before the delayed race this afternoon.
International Racing Bureau director Adrian Beaumont said: “It was so exciting because Shaikh Isa’s horse Rustang ridden by Lee Newman, who was a late deputy for Gerald Mosse, was 20 lengths clear at one stage and he was weakening in the final furlong and everyone was getting so excited.
“It was a great ride by Stephane Pasquier, a brilliant French jockey, riding Royal Julius, who is a really good stayer. He just judged it to perfection. And a blanket finish for second, third and fourth. It was a really exciting finish.
“This event has been a fantastic success – everyone has had a really good time, we have really enjoyed ourselves. The hospitality has been second to none and it’s been a great, exciting race on the day and I’m sure this event with go from strength to strength in the future.”
The race was delayed after a freak incident as one of the horses was coming out of the paddock. Irish bay Euginio, ridden by Paddy Mathers and trained by Fawzi Nass, had to be euthanised after suffering a fall. “It was very unfortunate, it was a very unusual accident,” said Beaumont. “I’ve never seen this in 30 years of racing. He reared over backwards and hit his head and was injured and had to be put down. It’s an absolute tragedy.”
