Sulamani today landed the £100,000 BHB Middle Distance Championship with a dramatic win in the final race of the series, the Juddmonte International Stakes at York.
The win for the Saeed bin Suroor-trained five-year-old saw him pip his stablemate Doyen and the Clive Brittain-trained Warrsan at the top of the leaderboard by just one point.
BHB Chairman Martin Broughton presented Sheikh Mohammed, of the winning owners Godolphin, with the Middle Distance Championship trophy in a ceremony that took place at York racecourse.
Sulamani competed in two other races in the Middle Distance Championship, which saw points awarded for the top six finishers in the seven races that made up the BHB Summer Triple Crown. A highly valuable prize in its own right, the Middle Distance Championship ensured interest in the competition right up to its conclusion, and rewarded the most consistent performer.
Sulamani finished fourth in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot, before winning the feature race of York’s Ebor Meeting.
Describing the Middle Distance Champion Sulamani, Godolphin’s racing manager Simon Crisford said: “He is still competing against the highest calibre of horse. He has been very mentally immature and has taken longer than some horses to find himself.
“He has been placed in two King Georges and an Arc, and has won the French Derby, two American Grade One races and now a Juddmonte International, but hasn’t got the credit he deserves.”
The final leaderboard for the 2004 Middle Distance Championship is attached.
For further information, please contact BHB Communications Executive Will Lambe on 020 7343 3335. Full details of the BHB Middle Distance Championship can be found at stage.britishhorseracing.com/stc.
Final standings:
Points Horse Races
17 Sulamani 3
16 Doyen 2
16 Warrsan 2
10 Ouija Board 1
10 North Light 1
10 Rakti 2
10 Refuse To Bend 1
The Middle Distance Championship points scoring system is 10-6-4-3-2-1 for the first six home in each of the seven races.
