Nayef (horse)
Nayef (foaled 1 May 1998) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. Bred in the United States and trained in the United Kingdom, his racing career ran from 2000 to 2003. He is best known for winning a series of important races, including four Group One races: the Champion Stakes, the Dubai Sheema Classic, the International Stakes and the Prince of Wales's Stakes. Background Nayef is a large, powerfully built bay horse bred in Kentucky by his owner, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. He was sired by Gulch and was the last foal of the notable broodmare Height of Fashion, making him a half-brother to Derby winner Nashwan and multiple Group race winner Unfuwain. He was trained throughout his career by Marcus Tregoning at Kingwood Stables in Lambourn and ridden in seventeen of his nineteen races by Richard Hills. Racing career 2000: two-year-old season Unlike most racehorses, Nayef bypassed maiden races, making his debut instead against more experienced colts in the Listed Haynes, Hanson and Clark Conditions Stakes at Newbury. He was nevertheless made 7-4 favourite on the basis of his reputation and won by a neck from Tamburlaine. The form of the race looked particularly strong when the runner-up went on to finish second in the Group One Racing Post Trophy later in the season. Nayef followed up in the Autumn Stakes at Ascot, taking the lead a furlong from the finish and pulling away to win by an "impressive" six lengths. Once again, the form of the race was boosted by later events, when the third-placed Count Dubois won the Group One Gran Criterium in Milan two weeks later. Nayef's two-year-old career had followed a family pattern: Unfuwain had won the Haynes, Hanson and Clark Conditions Stakes in 1987, while Nashwan won the Autumn Stakes a year later. Nayef was made winter favourite for both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, despite never having contested a Group race. The official handicapper, Matthew Tester, awarded him "the highest rating a two-year-old has ever been given without running in Group company". One writer later noted that Nayef had been "hyped as the second coming of Pegasus". 2001: three-year-old season Nayef failed to realise his promise in the early part of 2001. He began with an odds-on defeat to Tobougg on soft ground in the Craven Stakes. and in the 2,000 Guineas he appeared to be outpaced after disputing the lead for most of the way and faded to finish eighth behind Golan. A week before the Derby, Marcus Tregoning withdrew Nayef from the race, feeling that he was not mature enough for Epsom and saying that the colt had "grown an awful lot and I just feel his strength has gone for the time being". On his return to the racecourse, Nayef finished third in the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Goodwood, prompting one columnist to write that "if there has been one disappointment this season, it has been Nayef". From that point on however, his form improved steadily. He