Dubawi’s four-year-old son Benbatl landed his first G1 victory when running out the very impressive winner of the G1 Dubai Turf. Always close to the pace in the nine furlong contest, he cruised up on the bridle to tackle long time leader Janoobi two furlongs from home before asserting to win by a wide margin of three-and-a-quarter lengths.
Unraced as a juvenile, Benbatl soon became a top-flight performer last season for Saeed bin Suroor, with a G3 victory at Royal Ascot in the Hampton Court Stakes and excellent placed efforts in the G2 Dante and G3 Craven Stakes. He has improved again at four with today’s victory being his third of the year after a G2 triumph in the Al Rashidiya and a G3 win in the Singspiel Stakes, before finishing a close second in the G1 Jebel Hatta.
He is the first foal of the Selkirk mare Nahrain, who twice scored at the highest level in the Prix de l’Opera and Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes. She also has an unraced New Approach three-year-old, named Ta Allak, in training with Roger Varian, a yearling filly by Dubawi, and is due to visit the same sire again this season.
Dubawi is the sire of 95 lifetime Group winners including 35 that have won at the highest level. He was also the world’s leading yearling sales sire last season with an average of £751,000, the third successive year that he has achieved that feat. He has already sired 17 Stakes performers in 2018 including G1 Al Matkoum Challenge R3 hero North America.
