Amir Sword Festival Lures Top Names to Qatar

The Amir Sword Festival Feb. 21-22 at Al Rayyan Racecourse has attracted a roster of top riders and the defending champion Thoroughbred, French King, to complement its biggest races of the season.

Oisin Murphy, England's reigning top jockey, is booked to ride Standard Deviation, a Curlin  colt trained by Graham Motion, in the $1 million H.H. The Amir Trophy Presented by Longines (G1), the Thoroughbred feature of the weekend Saturday.

Murphy's human competition will include French standouts Maxime Guyon, Christophe Soumillon, Pierre-Charles Budot, Stephane Pasquier, and Olivier Peslier, as well as former German champions Eddie Pedroza and Adrie de Vries.

The two-day festival features both Thoroughbred and top-level Purebred Arabian competition, with the $1 million H.H. The Amir's Sword Sponsored by Al Hazm capping the latter.

The field for the Trophy includes some familiar names; the top four finishers from the 2019 edition—French King, Royal Julius, Hunting Horn, and 2018 Trophy winner The Blue Eye—all return.

French King, a 5-year-old son of French Fifteen, went on from his Dubai victory to win three races in Germany, including the Longines Grosser Preis von Berlin (G1) at Hoppegarten before finishing ninth in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1).

He drew gate 1 in a field of 13, and Peslier was named to ride.

French King and Royal Julius both represented France in the 2019 running of the Trophy, and that success lured two more French visitors for this year's renewal—Pedro Cara and Mr Satchmo—both with experience on the course. Pedro Cara won the Qatar Derby (G1) in December, and Mr Satchmo was second, beaten only a short head, in the 2018 Derby.

Standard Deviation recently was transferred from Chad Brown's barn to Motion's care. He has not raced since finishing third, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths, in the Hollywood Derby (G1T) at Del Mar in November. Earlier in the 2019 season, he won the Jersey Derby on the Monmouth Park turf.

Standard Deviation drew gate 3.