Qatar’s state-backed horse racing authority, the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC), has renewed its title sponsorship of the UK’s Goodwood Festival.
Under the deal, the annual five-day event will be known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival until 2024.
The QREC first partnered with the festival in 2015 under a five-year deal, which is set to expire in August this year.
Qatar’s sponsorship of the festival was the first of its kind for the QREC in the UK.
Issa bin Mohammed Al-Mohannadi, chairman of the QREC, said: “It was not an easy matter to enter into an agreement of this type with the organisers of an event that has been held for over 200 years.
“However, the conviction that Qatar, represented in QREC, is fully committed to such investment has been the key to the renewal and the continuation of the sponsorship up to 2024, which is a significant benefit to Qatar’s equestrian sport.”
The Goodwood Festival features the Qatar International Stakes, which is the first round of the Doha Triple Crown.
The second round is held through the Qatar Arabian World Cup on the same day of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Paris, Longchamp in early October, while the third and the final round is the HH The Amir Sword, which is run at Al-Rayyan Park in Doha in February.
The Qatar Goodwood Festival also features some of the world’s top races for thoroughbreds, including the Qatar Goodwood Cup, the Qatar Sussex Stakes, the Qatar Nassau Stakes, the Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes, the Qatar King George Stakes, and the Qatar Gordon Stakes.