Qatar Racing buys Royal Ascot contender The Lir Jet

Qatar Racing have bought very impressive debut two-year-old winner The Lir Jet before his date at Royal Ascot next week.

The Lir Jet, who looked Stakes material when making a winning debut at Yarmouth last week, has been snapped up by Qatar Racing on the eve of him running at the Royal meeting. He is around 9/1 for the Gr.2 Norfolk Stakes next Wednesday.

The Lir Jet is from the first crop of Prince of Lir who himself won the Norfolk in 2016.

The Lir Jet broke the all-aged track record at Yarmouth when making most of the running over five furlongs when he was ridden by Silvestre de Sousa and carried the colours of trainer Michael Bell's son Nick.

The Lir Jet was purchased for £8,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale by Robson Aguiar and was originally pencilled in for the breeze-up sales. However, he instead entered into training and converted his promising homework onto on-course performance, beating Steadman by two and three quarter lengths.

Qatar Racing's racing manager David Redvers told the Racing Post: "Sheikh Fahad is always on the lookout for the right horse and watched The Lir Jet win at Yarmouth and liked what he saw. Hopefully, we'll see that blistering turn of foot in the Norfolk Stakes next Friday. He looks a strong individual and looks a ready-made Royal Ascot runner."

Michael Bell added: "It's great that Sheikh Fahad has stepped in for The Lir Jet and he's a great friend who I've trained successfully for before. We have a great working relationship and hopefully we can do so again."