Qirat returns to winning ways in the Gr.3 Criterion Stakes at York

Qirat returned to winning ways in the 7f Gr.3 Criterion Stakes at York when making most of the running to score for trainer Ralph Beckett.

Taken from European Bloodstock News, 28th June 2026

Adopting his usual front-running tactics under Silvestre De Sousa, the son of Showcasing was quickly at the head of affairs of the six-runner field, tracked closely by last season’s Gr.1 City Of York Stakes winner Never So Brave and William Haggas’s Saber Strike.

In similar fashion to his surprise victory in the Gr.1 Sussex Stakes last season, Qirat upped the tempo over two furlongs from home and, despite facing a strong challenge from Never So Brave inside the final furlong, responded well for pressure to assert in the closing stages to win by a length and a half. Andrew Balding’s Never So Brave could not quite breach the deficit back in second, while Saber Strike never seriously threatened a further length back in third. Ralph Beckett’s five-year-old has often been categorised as a Goodwood specialist, with three of his five victories being achieved there, including the Gr.1 Sussex Stakes last season.

He is out of the Irish Champion Older Female Miler and Gr.1 Matron Stakes winner Emulous (Dansili), who has produced five other winners, most notably the champion and dual Gr.1 victrix Bluestocking (Camelot). Emulous is also the dam of the unraced Frankel mare War And Peace (dam of the multiple Stakes-placed Cathedral and the Gr.3 Ballyogan Stakes runner-up Firebird) and a full-sister to the Gr.3 Prix Gontaut-Biron winner First Sitting and the Listed Criterium de Vitesse winner Daring Diva (dam of the Gr.2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes winner Brooch and the Gr.2 Blandford Stakes runner-up Caponata and grandam of the dual US Gr.1-winning sire Mandaloun)