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Alflaila misses Bahrain Trophy after late setback

By Racing TV

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

(Photo: Focusonracing)

Injury will prevent the Owen Burrows-trained Alflaila from running in the Bahrain International Trophy on Friday.

The three-year-old won four of his six outings this season, rounding out with a couple of Group Three successes.

Burrows had pinpointed the £600,000 Bahrain Trophy as the perfect end to 2022 – but the Shadwell-owned colt has picked up a problem in his left forelock.

“Alflaila was having a routine canter at the racetrack at Bahrain this morning. My head lad John Lake was riding him and he was happy with him and how he moved,” said Burrows.

“On the walk home, he felt he was a little bit short so got off him. He had an X-ray as soon as he got back to the stables which showed a small fracture in the left fore fetlock.

“He’s had successful surgery and he’ll hopefully be good to return home in a few weeks. He’s been excellently looked after by the Baker McVeigh team on site.

“It’s just very frustrating so close to the race but the main thing is that the surgery went well and he’s OK.”

Ed Veale of the Bahrain Turf Club speaks on Luck On Sunday about the progress of the Bahrain International Trophy and even bigger ambitions for the race

The Bahrain International Trophy is the marquee race in the kingdom and its in its fourth year, with prize money up £100,000 from 2021.

Ed Veale, Head of Racing at the Bahrain Turf Club, told Racing TV on Sunday: "The race is really evolving and we're now running for £600,000 for the first time, so we are taking what we think are the necessary sateps to reach the target of Group One status.

"I think we have added a good quality line-up of horses this year and it is a diverse field from a number of countries."

The Bahrain Turf Series also returns next month, with the competitive programme of ten races worth £60,000 each starting on December 9 through until February 17. Every race will be shown on Racing TV.

Veale said: "Last year was an opportunity to showcase what we can offer - the quality of the racing, that you can keep horses with us throughout the winter and that we do offer a programme of races that are attractive to European connections with competitive prize money.

"We're really excited about getting hopefully 20 or so horses from Europe to be with us over the winter."

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