Suesa in action
Goodwood: The Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC)-sponsored Qatar Goodwood Festival will conclude today. The race meetings of the 2021 renewal of the five-day annual Festival continued over four days before the curtain will fall on this year’s edition.
The seventh edition has had special importance with the return of racegoers to Goodwood and their presence has been very large even with the windy and rainy weather at Sussex Downs yesterday.
The events of the Qatar Goodwood Festival continued on the penultimate day of the Festival with a seven-race card day. The feature and fourth race was the Gr2 King George Qatar Stakes, a 1,000 sprint for three-year-olds and older.
Thirty minutes earlier, Al Shaqab Racing’s Qaysar ran in the Unibet Golden Mile Handicap, a class 2 mile for three-year-olds and older.
Having her first attempt at five furlongs, the George Strawbridge-owned filly Suesa (Night Of Thunder x Sally Is The Boss) produced an incredible turn of foot to land the Group Two King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood yesterday.
Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, QREC Vice Chairman and President of the Asian and the Qatar Equestrian Federations crowned the winners of the King George Qatar Stakes.
Trained in France by Francis Rohaut, Suesa was having her second run in the United Kingdom, following her eighth-placed effort in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and was ridden to success by William Buick.
Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, QREC Vice-Chairman and President of the Asian and the Qatar Equestrian Federations crowns the winners of the King George Qatar Stakes.
Ridden confidently by Buick with plenty of cover in mid-division, Suesa travelled very strongly through the early stages of the race. With a strong pace bring set, Suesa got a good lead into the race and was not asked for an effort until a just inside the two-furlong marker.
Once the gap appeared, Suesa produced an electric turn of foot towards the stands side and quickly put the race to bed.
She galloped clear inside the final furlong and went on to score by three lengths. Dragon Symbol (Cable Bay) who looked threatening two furlongs out, finished second but was no match for the winner.
Three-time Group One winner Glass Slippers (Dream Ahead) ran well to take third on her seasonal reappearance. Favourite Battash (Dark Angel) failed to get a blow in and finished only seventh.
Winning jockey William Buick said after the race: “She’s such a sweetheart. I rode her at Ascot and the ground was terrible for her but I learned a lot that day. She is a real five-furlong filly and travelled through the race so smoothly. "
"She gave a huge kick of speed when I asked her. I spoke to Mr.Rohaut and he was quite confident that she was in good from. I also spoke to Olivier (Peslier) and he told me plenty about her. She is a proper sprinter – she’s strong, has a great attitude and is very cool,” Buick added.
Bred by Thomastown Farm Ltd, Suesa is by Newmarket 2,000 Guineas winner Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) who stands at Kildangen Stud in Ireland. Her dam, Sally Is The Boss(Orpen) was unraced and is a half-sister to Shebogan(Grand Lodge) who was placed at listed level.
The second dam White Satin (Fairy King) was also listed placed and was trained by Aiden O’Brien.
Today’s feature and fourth race will be the Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes, a Group 2 for three-year-old and older fillies and mares over 2,800 metres.
Al Wasmiyah Stud’s five-year-old Traisha (Invincible Spirit x Dress Rehearsal) will be in the fray and will be saddled by Joseph Patrick O’Brien and guided by Adam Kirby.
Other six fillies and mares will be vying for the title and the most notable of them are Christopher Wright’s four-year-old Wonderful Tonight (Le Havre x Salvation), who is trained by David Menuisier and will be ridden by William Buick and Coolmore’s three-year-old Divinely (Galileo x Red Evie), who is schooled by A P O’Brien and will be steered by Ryan Moore.
