€300,000 Qatar Royallieu (Gr1): Grateful storms home in new stamina test

ParisLongchamp, France – October 5, 2024 – The €300,000 Qatar Prix de Royallieu (Gr1), a Group 1 contest for fillies and mares ages 3 and up run over 1m6f provided a thrilling finish at ParisLongchamp on Saturday. Several contenders launched their bids from the back of the pack in this selective race that featured a field of sixteen.

Among them was the English raider River of Stars (Sea the Stars), who raced prominently throughout. She appeared poised to take command in the stretch, but it was the Irish outsider Grateful (Galileo) who unleashed a powerful late surge to win by nearly a length. The valiant River of Stars held on for second, a half-length in front of Mistral Star (Frankel), who enjoyed a ground-saving trip. Thunder Roll (Night of Thunder), who had tracked the early leaders, finished fourth, just a neck behind Mistral Star.

This marked the fourth victory on the card for trainer Aidan O’Brien. Grateful, who recently finished third in the Park Hill Stakes (Gr2) at Doncaster, is out of the American champion mare Tepin (Bernstein), winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Gr1) among other prestigious races. She was sold for $8m at fasig-Tipton in 2017, in foal to Curlin. Grateful’s 2-year-old brother by Dubawi, named Delacroix, was recently second in the Champions Juvenile Stakes (Gr2) in Ireland.