Red hot form includes Listed win from Valour
There were been five winners for Qatar Racing in less than 24 hours over the weekend, including True Valour in the Listed Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire Celebration Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.
Just 10 days after finishing eighth of 20 to Le Brivido in the Gr.3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot, True Valour (pictured winning at Limerick in April) showed class and guts in equal measure to beat eight rivals in the Listed Celebrations Stakes. He was given a brilliant ride by Shane Foley, scraping paint on the far rail the whole way round, but when the gap opened two furlongs out, the colt shot through it and put the race to bed. This was True Valour's first run over a mile, which opens up plenty of options for him in the second half of the season.
The Qatar Racing scorer at Newmarket on Saturday was Melodic Motion, whose success was achieved in the colours of 'Art Fund Museum of The Year Finalists 17'. She had been leased for the day by Sheikh Fahad to the National Heritage Centre to help promote their bid as finalists for the Art Fund Museum of the Year award - find out more here - the winner of which will be crowned at the British Museum on Wednesday July 5 July. As for Melodic Motion, she was winning her third handicap on the bounce and who knows how far she can climb - dare we say it, her progress so far bears a resemlance to the first half of Simple Verse's 3-year-old campaign in 2015.
The other recent winners for Qatar Racing were Cannonball, Flourishing and Special Purpose in maidens at the Curragh on Friday and Chester and Lingfield on Saturday respectively. The first two are lightly-raced 3-year-olds and the last-named filly was making a winning debut from rivals with experience - all look to have promising careers in front of them.
Saturday was also the first time Qatar Racing has had a four-timer - thanks and congratulations go to all those involved.
The weekend could get even bigger as Qatar Racing as two runners in the Gr. 1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg on Sunday, namely Warring States and Promise of Peace. The race is due off at 2.40pm BST and both colts promise to be suited by going a mile and a half for the first time.