QATAR PRIX DU CADRAN - Caballo de Mar retains his title
QATAR PRIX DE L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE WEEKEND
QATAR PRIX DU CADRAN
CABALLO DE MAR RETAINS HIS TITLE
What an achievement by Caballo de Mar! Already victorious in the 2025 edition, the five-year-old gelding retained his title in the Qatar Prix du Cadran, a Group 1 contested over the marathon distance of 4,000 metres. The last horse to achieve such a double was the champion Westerner, in 2003 and 2004…
Caballo de Mar and the Irish-trained Scandinavia, the hot favourite for the race, fought out a tremendous battle all the way to the line. Caballo de Mar ultimately proved the more determined of the two, holding on by a short neck from his rival. However, the stewards opened an inquiry following contact between the two horses, after Caballo de Mar drifted into Scandinavia in the closing stages. After reviewing the incident, the stewards allowed the result to stand. Three and a half lengths further back, Queenstown finished third.
Caballo de Mar thus recorded his second Group 1 victory of the season, following his success in the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at ParisLongchamp on May 21. In three appearances at the Paris racecourse, he remains unbeaten.
Caballo de Mar came into the race on the back of victory in the Betfred Howard Wright Doncaster Cup Stakes (Gr2) at Doncaster on September 11. He is owned by Victorious Forever, the joint operation created in 2025 through the merger of the racing interests of two brothers from Bahrain’s royal family: Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, previously represented under the Victorious Racing name, and Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, whose horses raced under the KHK Racing banner.
The winner is trained by young British trainer George Scott, who is based in Newmarket.
Technical result
QATAR PRIX DU CADRAN
1st CABALLO DE MAR (O. Murphy)
2nd SCANDINAVIA (R.-L. Moore)
3rd QUEENSTOWN (W.-M. Lordan)
Time: 4’18’’94. Margins: Short Neck – 3 1/2 – Neck.
Connections’ reactions
“What an incredible racehorse! It’s an exceptional performance from him and from the whole team at home. It was very emotional after the race. He is simply a very special horse to us. To come back here and win the Qatar Prix du Cadran again is fantastic. He is a horse with a real personality. He is very particular and takes a lot of work at home. He is very lazy and difficult to read. We wanted to follow Scandinavia and everything went according to plan. We managed to get back to him. I was very confident before the race. I thought that if there was an opportunity to beat Scandinavia, it was today. My horse loves this place and he was showing all the right signs. Scandinavia had had a very hard race in Ireland and we thought we could beat him today. Obviously, that’s not the kind of thing you’re going to say before the race! The team at home deserve an enormous amount of credit for managing to bring our horses abroad in such good form. Our record in France is fantastic and, above all, it is a real team effort. Champions Day could be next on his programme. We’ll see how he comes out of the race.”
Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Scandinavia (2nd) and Queenstown (3rd), Ireland
“Scandinavia ran very well. It has been a long season for him and, originally, we had been thinking more about giving him a break. The ground was also a little slower today and I think he didn’t enjoy it quite as much. Ryan felt that things became a little difficult in the closing stages. The horse still came back, as he knows how to do, but he was then hampered in his effort. However, I would rather not dwell too much on that: I certainly don’t want to give the impression of being a bad loser. In any case, his season is over. There was never any question of carrying on any further and, with the ground likely to get even softer, it would no longer suit him.”