Quickthorn wins Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes

In a dominating performance witnessed on the opening day of Qatar Goodwood Festival 2023, Quickthorn claimed the top honours in the Group 1 Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes at the Goodwood Racecourse on Tuesday.Earlier, in the presence of Issa bin Mohamed al-Mohannadi, Chairman of Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC), the 2023 renewal of the Qatar Goodwood Festival kicked off in style and will continue for five days till Saturday (August 5).The world-famous five-day Festival is one of the highlights of the flat racing season in the UK and Europe. Held on the world’s most beautiful racecourse, the Festival features class racing, with several black type races bearing the name of Qatar.The opening day of this year’s edition of the QREC-sponsored Festival had an eight-race card, where top-class racing was on display at the glorious racecourse built in 1802. The feature event was the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes with the winners crowned by QREC chairman al-Mohannadi.Also present on the opening day were QREC Acting CEO Bader Mohamed al-Darwish, QREC Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid al-Kubaisi, QREC Director of Marketing Salem Khejaim al-Adbi, QREC Director of Public Relations and External Communications Dr Nasser Ahmed al-Hamar and Director of the QREC CEO Office Saoud Hamad al-Hababi.Meanwhile, nothing short of phenomenal can describe the performance of Quickthorn (Nathaniel x Dafffydowndilly), the scintillating winner of Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes. Trained by Hughie Morrison and sporting the silks of Lady Blyth, Quickthorn took on ten rivals over the marathon trip of 3,200m and took the bull by the horns under jockey Tom Marquand.Already a dual Group 2 winner prior to the depart of the Al Shaqab Racing Goodwood Cup Stakes, the battle-hardened stayer was sent straight to the front by Marquand and quickly build up a commanding lead over his ten rivals. The eventual third Coltrane (Mastercraftsman) led the chasing pack, but their effort was in vain as the six-year-old Quickthorn had put the race to bed early in the home straight and went on to win by six lengths at the line. Finding her stride late on, Emily Dickinson (Dubawi) stayed on late in the day to snatch second place from Coltrane.A nine-time winner in his career and rather late in plundering a first Gr 1 victory, Quickthorn has built up a great partnership with Marquand, who has now won five races on board the gelding, and who was delighted with the combinations success in the Al Shaqab Racing Goodwood Cup Stakes. "He’s a warrior in his own right,” said Marquand."I’ve had a bit of fun on him before on big days and he just loves bowling away and putting everyone else to the sword. It was a magnificent performance. It’s plain and simple what we are going to do on him and it’s a testament to him that they still couldn’t stop him. He’s a hell of a lot of fun. We knew what he could do and you know he’s going to be there for you in a fight, but he didn’t even need to do that today.”Bred by his owner, Quickthorn is the most successful of five winners out of Daffydowndilly (Oasis Dream), herself a triple scorer and daughter of Listed winner Art Eyes (Halling).