Beethoven among Qatar Derby entries

Qatar: Beethoven, winner of the 2009Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes for Aidan O'Brien, is among the 34 entries for Thursday's 1m2f Qatar Derby for which final declarations are made on Monday.

Well beaten in the Hong Kong Mile on his final start for the Ballydoyle team, he has joined trainer Ahmed Kobeissi and will carry the colours of Mohammed Kazim Al Ansari and Sons with Seb Sanders reportedly in line to take the ride.

Rated 117, he shares that mark with another European Group 1 winning juvenile, the former Pat Eddery-trained Hearts Of Fire. He was sold at Tattersalls in October for 550,000gns to his new trainer Ibrahim Saeed Al Malki.

Other entries include Hearts Of Fire's new stable companion, Miss Starlight, formerly trained in Newmarket by Charlie McBride, for whom she was a Group 3 winner in Germany. She has already won on the Al Rayyan Park turf in the Derby Trial.

Also among the entries are Lancelot, a Listed winner in France, who was sold for €300,000 at Arqana in October and is now with Alban De Mieulle, one of the top trainers in Qatar and Connemara, a Group 3 winner in his native America, who is now a stable companion of Beethoven and fifth entry with a rating of 100+.