Berrahri wins 2019 Longines Grosser Preis von St. Moritz

Ridden by jockey Kieren Fox, the eight-year-old stayed on well at the Swiss track to comfortably win the 80th running of the local Group 2 contest which is worth 111,000 Swiss francs (£86,000/€98,000).

Berrahri has a good record racing on the snow with five victories from 14 starts, and strode to a five-length success over Jungleboogie and last year’s winner Nimrod.

Run on snow on top of a frozen lake, the one mile and two furlong distance contest is the pinnacle of the three-week meeting held over consecutive weekends in the Swiss resort.

As in 2018, both Berrahri and Nimrod had both won their two races of preparation during the two previous Sundays at St Moritz; Berrahri was particularly impressive under jockey Dennis Schiergen when winning the Grosser Preis Longines last Sunday.

And Best’s horse took that improved form forward to save the best performance until last.

Jungleboogie, ridden by Eddy Hardouin, was well in contention until the latter stages but found the late running of Berrahri too much to handle and had to settle for second, ahead of with Nimrod (ridden by Kieran O’Neill) only a neck’s distance behind in third.

Fox has now partnered Berrahri, owned by Mark Curtis and Stephen Purdew, to four of his wins, this being the most lucrative.

Speaking afterwards, winning trainer Best said: “He won quite well in the end. They went very fast early on in the race and he couldn’t get the pace early, but it helped that they went so fast.

“It’s the richest race in Switzerland and we’ve been trying to win it since 2007. We’ve had several runners and been placed several times, so it’s very special to win it.”
On a possible bid to retain his crown next year, he said: “It’s a tricky one as the conditions of this race means that if you win then you have to carry lots of weight in future, but if he’s fit and well then he could come back next year.”

First held in 1907, the annual White Turf St. Moritz event takes place on the frozen lake of the Graubunden and is considered as one of the sporting and social highlights in the Engadine winter attracting over 30,000 spectators each year.

Swiss watchmaker Longines was once again the Official Partner, Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of the prestigious three week festival.

Longines also presented Dennis Schiergen with the Longines Jockey Silver Trophy for being this year’s leading jockey over the course of the three weekends of action.