Fairy Glen staged a remarkable comeback in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu, turning a last‑place position into a victorious finish and edging out the odds‑on favourite Sunly to claim a Group One triumph for the Newmarket training partnership of Simon and Ed Crisford. The race unfolded over a distance of one mile and six furlongs, with Mickael Barzalona guiding the five‑year‑old filly from the rear of the field while rivals Consent, Cameo, Sugar Island and Amelia Earhart set a respectable tempo early on. As the field entered the straight, Fairy Glen began to make her move, delivering a fierce challenge that saw her surge past the leaders.
Sunly, who had been strongly backed at 5‑6 and took the lead with a furlong remaining, appeared poised to secure the win. However, Barzalona timed Fairy Glen's late run perfectly, guiding her on a wide trajectory that allowed the filly to close the gap and snatch the lead by a neck at the finish line. Amelia Earhart, a former St Leger third‑placer, fought valiantly to hold on for third, finishing just three‑quarters of a length behind the winner.
The victory holds particular significance for Fairy Glen, who is slated for retirement at the end of the season. Earlier in the spring, she captured the Group Two Balanchine and the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan, and she had previously finished fifth in the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier behind Caballo De Mar in May. A recent second‑place finish in a Listed race at Yarmouth served as a useful warm‑up for the Qatar event. Ed Crisford reflected on the race strategy, noting Barzalona’s long‑range tactics: "Exactly what Mickael said would happen did happen – he said they'd get racing a long way out.
He knows her really well from Dubai and just wanted to take his time on her. They did get racing a long way out, he was following Sunly through and she's a game filly. She's never going to win by two or three lengths, but she gets the job done." Crisford added that Fairy Glen might have been capable of winning at Yarmouth a few weeks earlier, but the team deliberately gave her a gentle return after a summer break to preserve her for the target race. "She's a really good filly and she's won a Group One.
She will be retired at the end of this year, whether there's another race for her… she is in at Ascet (on Champions Day) and there might be something back here. We'll talk to her owner, but we might be able to fit another race in before she goes to stud," he explained. The report also turned to Wimbledon Hawkeye, who continued his impressive debut season for owner George Scott by winning the Qatar Prix Dollar at Longchamp. The son of Kameko, a former Royal Lodge victor for James Owen, was acquired privately by the Victorious Forever syndicate during the off‑season.
Since then, he has justified the purchase with a Group Three win at Deauville and a narrow defeat to Hotazhell in last month’s Irish Champion Stakes. With Christophe Soumillon aboard again, Wimbledon Hawkeye proved the class of the field in this Group Two contest, edging out Zaydann by half a length. Scott praised his charge, saying, "He's a class horse – he's proven that time and time again this year.
He was a bit fresh beforehand and I was a bit apprehensive how fresh he was, but he travelled into it like a really good horse." The colt’s odds for the Qatar Racing Champion Stakes were dramatically reduced after the win, yet a run on Ascot’s Champions Day is not currently on the agenda. Instead, Scott hinted at a new target: "I think he'll be perfect for Bahrain. Shaikh Nasser has put his foot down, there'll be no Champion Stakes. I want to do what the boss wants to do and he's right – we want to take a fresh horse to Shaikh Nasser's home.
He was bought for Bahrain so this is all a bonus really. I'll give him a week in the field when he gets home and the Bahrain International is going to be the perfect race for him." When asked about his partnership with Soumillon, Scott admitted a personal admiration: "It's cool to be associated with Christophe.
He's not someone I know very well and I've had a bit of a man crush on him since he started riding! He's got that charisma like Oisin (Murphy) and Frankie (Dettori) – they're just one‑offs." Overall, the Qatar meetings delivered compelling storylines, with Fairy Glen’s dramatic reversal and Wimbledon Hawkeye’s continued ascent underscoring the depth of talent in the current racing circuit.