Al Shaqab Making Noise in U.S.

By Lucas Marquardt 

Three years ago, few in Europe had heard of Sheikh Joaan Al-Thani, a younger brother of Qatar’s ruling Emir. Then came Group 1 winners like Olympic Glory (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) and Toronado (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}). And of course, the mighty Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), who won the last two renewals of the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

These days, it’s a different story. Sheikh Johann’s operation, Al Shaqab Racing, is rightly considered one of the premier racing outfits on the continent. In the same league as Godolphin and Coolmore? No, not yet. But with 170 racing prospects set to represent the stable in Europe in 2015–including the hot Classic prospect The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), the G1 Prix Morny winner, and Treve aiming for an unprecedented third Arc–as well as a broodmare band growing ever more impressive, the keyword is ‘yet.’ 

Now, Al Shaqab Racing is making waves in the U.S. And while it can’t be said Sheikh Johann has turned his full attention to America, a considerably weighty sideways glance, shot first in the spring of 2014, has yielded some impressive results here. 

That was evident on Saturday, Feb. 7, when two of Al Shaqab’s European imports, Mshawish (Medaglia d’Oro) and Sandiva (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), won graded stakes on the same card at Gulfstream Park. Mshawish just got up by a nose in the GI Gulfstream Park H. (video); while Sandiva mowed them down in the GIII Suwannee River S. (video). 

Then this past Sunday, Al Shaqab’s Khozan (Distorted Humor), the 3-year-old half to champion Royal Delta (Empire Maker), improved to two-for-two with another tour de force at Gulfstream (video). A month after being tabbed a “TDN Rising Star” in a debut that earned him a huge 103 Beyer, Khozan rolled home an effortless 12 3/4-length winner facing entry-level allowance foes. The win put Khozan squarely on the Kentucky Derby trail, though the colt, without a point on the Derby ranking system, would need a big effort in the GI Florida Derby Mar. 28–his intended target–to punch his ticket to Churchill Downs. 

What makes Al Shaqab’s early results in the States so impressive is that they’ve come by way of a relatively tiny stable. The aforementioned trio are just three of seven runners Al Shaqab has in the U.S., all of whom are trained by Todd Pletcher. In total, those runners have made 23 starts and won 10 times, a 43% strike rate. At Gulfstream, Al Shaqab is now a perfect seven-for-seven with its starters. 

“It’s been an amazing run since the horses started appearing over there,” said Al Shaqab’s chief racing advisor Harry Herbert. “The statistics are sort of spooky. We all know that doesn’t happen very often, so we’re enjoying it while it lasts.” 

Brick by Brick… 

With so much happening with Al Shaqab’s U.S. stable, the big question is, what’s next from here? Herbert stresses that Sheikh Joaan, who turns just 30 in 2015, is keen on building Al Shaqab’s American operation slowly. 

“The results are such that I’d like to think we will increase there, but sensibly, and not trying to overdue it and have horses just for the sake of having horses,” said Herbert. “The Sheikh wants to take a considered and structured approach. We’re all headed out to Doha for the big race meeting this week, and we’ll be sitting down with the Sheikh and figuring out what he’d like to do in the States. I think as the proven horses run, it’s likely we will send more to the States, and hopefully get more like Sandiva and Mshawish. We’re sending another horse named Helwan (Fr) [Bernstein] [a Maisons-Laffitte conditions winner]. There are horses for courses and horses for countries, and I think there’s a wonderful opportunity to increase the number of horses we have in America with the turf horses we have here in Europe.” 

Asked to gauge Sheikh Johann’s interest in American dirt racing, Herbert explained, “It’s interesting to him at the highest level. We’d love to win a Kentucky Derby, or a Preakness or a Belmont or a Breeders’ Cup. It’s the big races in the world that Al Shaqab wants to win. We just bought Toast of New York [Thewayyouare], for instance, and he’ll be heading out to Dubai for the G1 World Cup, but the plan is very much for him to return to the Breeders’ Cup and see if he can go one better [in the GI Classic]. To just have a lot of dirt runners in America for the sake of having them, however, that would not be part of the plan.” 

As far as attending and buying at U.S. sales, Herbert said nothing’s been decided. “The Sheikh will decide sale by sale, just like he does over here,” he said. “It’s not an automatic scenario that he’ll want us to go buy. He’ll look at the horses we have and decide whether to buy in Florida [at the juvenile sales], or to wait and buy some yearlings at Keeneland September, or both.” 

Market Implications… 

At this point, Al Shaqab’s racing stable is a near-equal mix of established horses brought over from Europe, and current 3-year-olds purchased as juveniles. The total receipts from last year’s 2-year-old sales explains why American sellers are keeping a keen eye on Sheikh Joaan’s participation in the U.S. Al Shaqab acquired just four horses, but paid $3,325,000 for them. They included Farraj (Tapit), the full-brother to Zazu and Flashback who co-topped the OBS March Sale at $1.6 million; and Khozan, the second-highest lot at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale at $1 million. Aljalela (Unbridled’s Song), from the immediate family of Eight Belles, cost $450,000 at OBS March, while Al Khazaaliya (Blame) was acquired for $275,000 at F-T Florida. 

There’s nothing like success on the track to convince an owner to reinvest in a particular market, and on this front, Al Shaqab U.S. has excelled. Of the four horses mentioned above, all but Farraj have started, and all three–Khozan, Aljalela and Al Khazaaliya–won on debut. 

Harry Herbert is quick to credit Bradley Weisbord, named Al Shaqab’s U.S. racing advisor last spring, for the operation’s fast American start. 

“Bradley, who set things up over there, added four breeze-up horses to the stable, and three of the four have run and won in their first starts,” Herbert said. “And it looks like Al Shaqab really has a horse to go to war with in Khozan.” 

Al Shaqab took their time with Khozan. He didn’t start training in earnest until the fall in New York before he was shipped down to Pletcher’s Palm Beach Downs base in November. “He was training really nicely all winter,” said Weisbord. “Then, two breezes before [his debut], the light more than came on. He outworked his workmate by six or eight lengths, and we thought, ‘Ok, he’s ready.’” 

Breaking from the parking lot in post 14, Khozan overcame the wide draw and won off as the 9-5 favorite. “Todd obviously has a lot of success with his debut runners, so it wasn’t surprising to see a Pletcher first-out winner,” said Weisbord. “But the stats from the 14 hole were terrible, and he beat a very credible horse in Wisecracker [Distorted Humor]. We expected him to run well, but we didn’t expect him to run a 103 Beyer.” 

Following Sunday’s win, Khozan’s $1 million price tag now seems like a bargain, but even when the hammer fell on the colt at Fasig-Tipton Florida, the price didn’t seem exorbitant, given his pedigree and physical prowess. 

“He was the hype horse of the sale, and I was extremely surprised that’s all he cost,” Weisbord said. “He’s the one I wanted out of the entire sale, and as long as the price was realistic for a horse with that pedigree, I wanted to buy him. I think what kept the price where it was was that he was slightly lame on his shins coming out of his breeze, and that can turn buyers off. But we did multiple x-rays and were very confident there wasn’t a crack there, that he just had sore shins, like many babies do. The other thing is that he’s a medium-sized horse. He doesn’t look like Royal Delta. He’s not a monster, imposing colt. He’s a medium-sized horse with a strong shoulder. And a lot of times the buyers want the horse to look like their siblings.” 

Khozan will likely face stablemate Itsaknockout in the Florida Derby.

The date of that race–Mar. 28–could be a huge one for Al Shaqab, as Mshawish will make his next start on Dubai World Cup night, in either the $1 million G2 Godolphin Mile on dirt or the $6 million G1 Dubai Duty Free over 1800 meters on turf. Moreover, Sandiva could start in the GII Honey Fox S. on the Florida Derby undercard, though the GI Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland is a possibility. 

As for some of the other members of the stable, things remain on hold at present. The $1.6 million Farraj was up to working five furlongs in New York by last September, but came out of a five-furlong drill over Saratoga’s Oklahoma in 1:02 4/5 with an ankle injury. 

“We thought he had as much talent, if not more, than Khozan,” said Weisbord. “He had a super five-eighths breeze, but came out of it with an ankle chip. He’s currently rehabbing at WinStar. He’s a really big horse; he’s the opposite of Khozan. He’s 17 hands and we just have to really take our time with him. He won’t make the Classics, but we’re hoping to get him back to the track by the middle of the year.” 

Aljalela, meanwhile, came away a 1 1/4-length winner in a one-mile turf maiden at Delaware Sept. 1, but has been off since working two weeks later. 

“She had some minor stuff–no surgery or anything–and needed some time to grow up, so we gave her some time off and she should be back with Pletcher this week or next,” Weisbord said. “I expect her to be a spring/summer horse, and we have really high hopes for her. We really think a lot of her, both on dirt and turf. She was working with Carpe Diem [Giant’s Causeway] last summer.” 

On the Shoulders of Giants… 

As Sheikh Joaan builds his stable in the U.S., Europe and beyond, there are easy parallels drawn between him and Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed. Both hail from the ruling families of oil-rich, Middle East states. Both have family members closely involved in the sport. And both are passionate horsemen who view the success of their stables as a way to promote their countries. But Harry Herbert cautions to not get carried away with the comparisons. 

“When I started last year working for the Sheikh, people always asked, ‘Is he going to be another Sheikh Mohammed? Will this be another Darley?’” he said. “The answer is, it may be in time. But it’s one step at a time. We’ll do it in a careful, controlled manner. We have a good team around us, a small team who are doing a fantastic job, whether it’s Bradley in America or Rupert Pritchard-Gordon in France, or the team I have in the UK near the offices of Highclere, it’s a very exciting project. Sheikh Mohammed has been doing this for almost 30 years, and has built the most fantastic operation. Juddmonte, the same thing, and indeed many others–Cheveley Park Stud, the Niarchoses–these great owner breeders take many, many years to build up their broodmare bands and operations. 

“I think he and everyone who works for him is happy to look at those organizations that have been so successful. But at the same time, he may want to do things differently in some areas. The Sheikh is a young man. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think he has tremendous admiration for Sheikh Mohammed and what he’s achieved, and is achieving. And the same for Juddmonte and the bigger breeders from the Middle East. You’d be absolutely made not to look at what other people have done well, and maybe done not so well, and try to fine tune your own operation to be as successful as it can be. We’re just starting out with Al Shaqab.”