The Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO) looks forward to its first race of the season to be held at Wolverhampton in which the exciting Qatari bred and trained AJS Lattam makes his European debut. Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Attiyah’s three-year-old colt is unbeaten in two starts in Qatar this spring and will face just two other rivals in the mile contest on Monday 17 July.
A son of leading stallion AF Albahar, AJS Lattam is a homebred from Al-Attiyah’s Al Jeryan Stud in Qatar. His dam is a half-sister to Dubai International Stakes winner Gazwan, who is also one of the few horses to win Qatar’s greatest prize, the HH The Amir Sword twice, as well as the Qatar Arabian World Cup on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe card.
Commenting on his chances, Al-Attiyah said, “It’s my first-time training horses in the UK. Newmarket is a great place to train, the facilities are really good and the horses seem happy over here. AJS Lattam won his maiden and a cup race for three-year-olds in Doha, I’m sure he’ll improve again. I’m hoping he can win a race like this so that we can be more confident stepping up to 2000m for the Group 1PA race at Saint-Cloud in the autumn and Wolverhampton is a good place to start.
“Sadly we don’t have the dam anymore, but it’s a good family. I don’t know if AJS Lattam is as good as Gazwan, but I’m hoping he’s useful.”
The colt faces two older horses who both have the benefit of a recent run. Peter Hammersley trains nearby and is also the co-breeder of his runner, Coljani. Third on his reappearance last month, the gelding subsequently looked unsuited by the quick ground and Brighton’s undulations on his most recent outing. His sire Madjani’s stock do well on artificial surfaces and the Raffles Partnership will be hopeful of improvement from their four-year-old who holds an entry for next month’s UAE President Cup-UK Arabian Derby at Doncaster.
Completing the trio is the five-year old mare, Sassy, whose dam is a half-sister to a multiple PA Group winner. Trained by her owner-breeder Steve Blackwell just outside of Bridgend, she made her belated debut at Windsor last month, finishing behind Coljani. She was very green and slowly away, but her half-sister also took her time before recording two wins last season, and Blackwell will hope that she follows a similar path.
Debbie Burt, editor of The Arabian Racehorse magazine said, “It’s always a pleasure to support UK Arabian racing and particularly a race of this nature, with three young horses just at the start of their careers. On paper AJS Lattam looks to be an exciting young prospect and his owner-breeder-trainer, Mohammed bin Hamad Khalifa Al-Attiyah will be featured in the forthcoming edition of the magazine, which is due out on August 1st.”
Genny Haynes, ARO Chief Executive Officer said, “ARO thanks The Arabian Racehorse for their continued support of UK Arabian racing, through the sponsorship of this race and the Best Turned Out Award. They also co-sponsor our UK Breeders scheme, so it is particularly pleasing that the two UK homebreds will qualify for points in this race.
“We look forward to returning to Wolverhampton on Monday for the first of our two scheduled races there.”
