ROYAL CHAMPION RETAINS BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL TROPHY AS LAMBOURN FALLS SHORT OF RECORD

Royal Champion defended his crown in the Bahrain International Trophy on Friday, winning the race for the second year running and giving it a Group One winner in its first renewal at the top level. Karl Burke’s eight-year-old, ridden by Clifford Lee, picked up strongly up the near-side rail to beat the French-trained Zaydann by a length and a quarter, with Baroud back in third.

Sent off at 15-2 in a field of 12 for the $1.5million contest at Sakhir, the Shamardal gelding travelled smoothly just behind the leaders over a mile and a quarter before producing a decisive finishing burst. Zaydann runs for Francis-Henri Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs, while Baroud is trained by André and Lavinia Fabre.

Aidan O’Brien’s dual Derby winner Lambourn, partnered by Ryan Moore, pressed the pace early but was soon outpaced before running on to finish fourth. The result denied O’Brien what would have been a record-breaking 29th Group One winner in a calendar year.

A redemption for Lee

The victory carried extra meaning for Lee, who missed last year’s success, when the race was still a Group Two, after a serious motorcycle accident kept him out of the saddle for months. James Doyle deputised twelve months ago and steered Royal Champion to victory on that occasion.

Burke admitted he had made a mistake by campaigning the horse through the English summer, saying he had only been happy with him for the last three or four weeks. After the race the Yorkshire trainer felt Royal Champion had “absolutely bolted up”.

It was Royal Champion’s second top-level win in the Middle East, following his Group One triumph in the Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, and he became only the second dual winner of the Bahrain race after Spirit Dancer. He races for the executors of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, his owner-breeder.

At The Races reported before the race that Hong Kong could be a next port of call for Lambourn, who has been campaigned internationally this season.