Covering the two UAE President Cup series for Arabian racehorses in the UK in 2026 at Newbury and Doncaster.
Al Sharid FR and John Egan go to post at Goodwood
Having returned to teaching although he d lost the love of training thoroughbreds he still missed having something to cheer home Having spoken to ARO S Genny Haynes she sourced him several horses to consider and Al Sharid an Al Mouwaffak gelding out of the Amer mare Olympia from the family of Damis bred by Al Shaqab was his pick
He was unraced but well bred so there s always the chance he might have slipped through the net as it were He d had a good education with Jean de Mieulle and is a good ride though he s a bit too strong for my daughter at the moment He works on his own and he s happy that way
When he arrived I had no experience with the breed but I thought he worked well we put cheek pieces on for his first start I thought he ran well up to the bend at Wolverhampton and then he was very green in the closing stages He was better when winning at Bath and then at Doncaster against the horse that beat him at Wolverhampton he improved again for another win We won again at Doncaster stepping up to a mile and a quarter the Derby distance he was eight lengths clear and then only beat the second half a length he idled in front
Speaking on the morning of the Qatar International Stakes Griffiths says It s massive this race at Goodwood the money s brilliant The Doncaster race in September is ideal as its four year olds only and he s a dual course winner today we re against older horses He s still improving there should be more to come
He ll run today then it s about six weeks to Doncaster John Egan will ride him again we ve known him for years he s ridden us a good few winners when I was training before He couldn t ride Al Sharid on his debut but he rode him at Bath He was in the first that day and kindly hung around for us as our race was last on the card I ve never had that many phone calls from a jockey afterwards John will be on the phone every two days he likes him they get on great
At Goodwood having raced in midfield Al Sharid wasn t able to quicken but still kept on admirably to pick sixth placed prize money For a horse that was bought cheaply privately having been unsold at the Auctav sale in November he s picked up a total of over 22 000 in prize money to date
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