Al Hibaab spearheads a three-pronged attack for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid in the Group 1 Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup at Lingfield Park, outside of Surrey, England, on Saturday.
Al Hibaab won the Shadwell Stud Dubai International Stakes in August and will be ridden by former UAE champion Tadhg O’Shea.
Also from the Gill Duffield stable will be Radames, who will be partnered by Luke Morris, and Salaama, the mount of Andrea Atzeni, who won the Emirates Equestrian Federation International Stakes, also on Dubai Day in August.
Georgina Ward’s Toutatix is the third winner on Dubai Day to line up in the field of 11 for the 1,600-metre event, which will carry a purse of £68,000 (Dh384,000).
The race forms the second leg of the Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Racing Festival, which also stages a Sheikha Fatima Ladies World Championship race.
Ten horses have been declared for the 1,600m handicap, with female riders from as many countries all competing for a berth in the final in Abu Dhabi in November.
Catherine Fortune, a Norwegian office worker, is the most successful jockey in the line-up, having won previous races in Germany, France and the United States, and will ride Kiraa.
French jockey Pauline Boisgontier, who has three series wins to her name, will take the ride on the Minister of Finance’s Mazaaya.
Last year’s winner of the Morocco leg, Korean Lee Keum-joo will be on Noble Athlete while Japan’s Aoi Kinomae will be on Man Of Dreams.
German student Silke Bruggemann gets the leg-up on Altesse Kossack, a winner of this race when run in Newbury.
Andrew Perkins, executive director of Lingfield Park, said: “We are delighted to welcome this prestigious Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival to Lingfield Park and feel it sits very well with our Derby Trial day, which we have been proud to host for more than 80 years.”
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