The Julian Smart-trained Ebraz (5/2) won a thrilling renewal of the prestigious £400,000 G1 Qatar International Stakes for purebred Arabians.
Ridden by Maxime Guyon, the six-year-old finished with a flourish to win the mile event by two and three-quarter lengths.
Smart trains 70 horses in Doha, Qatar, during the winter and has a yard in France during the summer.
Ebraz had finished second in the last two renewals of the G1 event and Smart was delighted that he had finally got his head in front.
He said: “We came back to try and win this race with Ebraz again this year, but halfway through I did not think he was going to win as he was off the bridle and struggling.
“That was not like him at all as he usually travels very strongly in his races and then pulls himself up.
“These Arab horses are very finicky and all of a sudden when Maxime got him into all sorts of trouble. Then the horse really enjoyed it!
“Once the horse got into that pocket that he really shouldn’t have been in, I had a feeling he was going to win.
“It was a different Ebraz today! It has been a fabulous week for us as we brought two horses over to Newbury as well on Sunday and they both won. We came over to England from France with three horses and they have all won.
“We are based in Doha for the winter. We have about 70 horses with a mixture of thoroughbreds and Arabians. In France this summer we have about 17 horses in. We usually come over to Europe for the summers. Our ultimate goal is the huge Arabian racing weekend on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend.
“This particular race is huge and we have won it now so it is even more important. The Qatar Goodwood Festival is a very prestigious meeting and to have an Arabian race within the meeting is very important. It gives us a wider audience and allows people to watch our racing.”
Winning rider Guyon remarked: “We have had a good race finally. The horse loves to battle so I preferred to come between horses. He can stop in front, but he showed a good turn of foot today.”
5.20pm Qatar International Stakes (Purebred Arabians) 1m
1 EBRAZ (HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani) Julian Smart QATAR 6-9-08 Maxime Guyon 5/2
2 Tayf (HH Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani) Alban de Mieulle QATAR 7-9-08 Olivier Peslier 5/1
3 Lightning Bolt (L Waterland) Karen Van Den Bos NETHERLANDS 7-9-08 Tadhg O’Shea 7/1
11/10 Fav Muraaqib (5th)
Distances: 2¾, 3¼