The Qatar Goodwood Festival 2024 gets underway at the Goodwood Racecourse for a tenth straight year in Chichester, UK, today. One of the midsummer highlights of the British horse racing calendar, patronised by Qatar and represented by Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) will attract audiences till August 3.
Affectionately known as ‘Glorious Goodwood’, the world-famous festival brings plenty of festivities alongside top quality flat racing, with highlights including Goodwood Cup Day, Sussex Stakes Day and Ladies’ Day during the next five days. 37 races take place over the five-day festival, with the undoubted highlights including the Sussex Stakes and both the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup and the Nassau Stakes.
All arrangements related to the festival have been completed through continuous co-ordination between the QREC management, led by Issa bin Mohamed al-Mohannadi, and the Goodwood management, who pay great attention to the festival – one renewal after another, given the level it has reached and the large numbers of racegoers both from the UK and the neighbouring countries, who are keen to be part of the festival. In addition, the sponsors, “partners in success,” with QREC play a prominent role by contributing to the success of this event every year.
The Festival kicks off today with eight races, featuring the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup (British Champions Series). The Gr1 for three-year-olds and older over 3200m is considered as one of the best races in the world for stayers. Tomorrow the focus will be on the Qatar International Stakes, a Gr1 for four-year-old and older purebred Arabians over 1600m. Qatari owners look forward to continuing to excel in this race. The day will also see the Gr1 Qatar Sussex Stakes (British Champions Series) over 1600m.
On Thursday, there will be eight races as well, featuring the Gr1 Qatar Nassau Stakes (British Champions Series), a Gr1 over 2000m. Friday features the Markel Magnolia Cup over 1100m and the King George Qatar Stakes, a Gr2 sprint over 1000m. On Saturday, the fifth and final day of the festival, there will be eight races and the feature will be the Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes, a Gr2 for fillies and mares over 2800m.
Enhancing Arabian racing
The Qatari sponsorship of the festival has contributed to enhancing the status and standard of Qatar’s equestrian sport in the UK and worldwide. This sponsorship has also contributed to making the festival reach new horizons, as it has become a meeting place for the best horse racing stars in the world, and has also turned into a global celebration of this sport due to the diversity of categories of the large numbers of spectators who are keen to attend the festival. Among the most important gains that the QREC has obtained through sponsoring the Qatar Goodwood Festival is the staging of a group one race for purebred Arabians, which is not common at Europe’s top racecourses.
Therefore, it was a wonderful addition to stage the Gr1 Qatar International Stakes for purebred Arabians on the second day of the festival every year. This is in line with Qatar’s goal of promoting Arabian horses and racing being a major part of Qatar’s heritage and equestrian sport. It represents a milestone in the history of horse racing at Goodwood Racecourse and the UK and is also the first round of the Doha Triple Crown, which was launched by Qatar 10 years ago in conjunction with the first edition of the Qatar Goodwood Festival with the aim of enhancing the value of Arabian racing in Europe.
Participation of sponsors and events
Besides, Qatar’s sponsorship of the festival has contributed to promoting Qatar as a destination for global sports and to marketing Qatar’s public and private companies in the country, such as the national carrier Qatar Airways, which is one of the participating sponsors of the festival.
In the previous renewals, several national companies benefited from the festival in marketing their products, such as QatarEnergy, Aspire Katara Hospitality, Qatar Tourism, Visit Qatar, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Education Above All, and other Qatari companies with the aim of promoting them during the festival.
Several diverse events are scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the festival through QREC and the participating sponsors, whom QREC considers partners in success in this major sporting event. Among the events, Qatar Airways is participating through Qverse – a novel virtual reality (VR) experience for visitors to the airline’s website – a captivating virtual tour of the products and services of the best airline in the world ever, guided by “Sama”, the first hospitality crew from MetaHuman. There will also be a live cooking station by Chef Nouf al-Marri, showcasing the excellence of Qatari cooking.
Start of Doha Triple Crown rounds
The Qatar International Stakes (Gr1 PA) for four-year-old and older pure Arabians over a distance of 1600m is expected to be very thrilling with top horses in the fray.
It is the first round of the Triple Crown for Arabian horses while the second, the Gr1 Qatar Arabian World Cup, will be on the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day at ParisLongchamp in the first weekend of October and the third and final, the Gr1 HH The Amir Sword, will be at Al Rayyan in Doha on the final day of the HH The Amir Sword Festival in February.
Nine horses have been declared to run including: the big favourite and title holder Al Ghadeer, who is owned by Al Shaqab Racing as are Al Wakrah and Afjan; Fareedhat El Izz for Al Nujaifi Racing Ltd; Ska de l’Aigle, the representative of Abdullah bin Fahad AH al-Attiyah; Al Zeer owned by Mohamed bin Fahad AH al-Attiyah ridden by Maxime Guyon; Winds of Fortune and Upstart Crown presented by James Owen and Abiyah Athbah for Dilmun Racing.
Ebraz was the first ever to land the Doha Triple Crown in 2020 and Al Ghadeer achieved the same legendary feat earlier this year.
