Qatar’s Bold Ambition

By Emma Berry 
All over Doha, there is a sense of big things to come. Vast buildings are flanked by works in progress that will eventually become bigger buildings still as more and more of the surrounding desert is tamed and turned into towers. 
By the time thousands of football fans descend on Qatar for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, the country will look immensely different to the way it does now, and the same will be true for Qatar’s racing facilities. The obvious ambition of the country itself is emulated by the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC), which this week hosted its three biggest race days of the season, culminating in HH The Emir Trophies and Sword Day yesterday at Al Rayyan racecourse. 

For this year’s International Equestrian Sword Festival–the 24th of its kind–the QREC had invited visitors from across the racing world to witness its fast-growing commitment to horse racing, both at home and internationally. 

QREC’s General Manager Sami Jassim Al Boenain explained, “people know Qatar through our sponsorship of overseas events, like the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and through QIPCO and now with the new sponsorship at Glorious Goodwood. So we want to show the international racing community how we do racing in Qatar and to see our country and where we come from–our lifestyle and culture.” 

Al Rayyan racecourse just outside Doha is the scene for the week’s sporting entertainment and is also a training track for many of the country’s 700 racehorses–a mixed population of Arabians and Thoroughbreds, with the majority of the latter having been imported from Britain, Ireland and France. 

The Emir, HH Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, is the patron of the QREC but is a last-minute absentee from the race day named in his honor. However, his brother, Sheikh Joaan, arrives at the races in time to see his Al Shaqab-ownedDubday (GB) (Dubawi (Ire) land back-to-back runnings of the major Thoroughbred race on the card, the HH The Emir’s Trophy, which is classified locally as a Group 1 contest. 

Dubday extends the already commanding lead of Jassim Al Ghazali in the Qatari trainers’ championship– his five winners on the day putting him on 108 for the season, with English-born Al Shahania trainer Julian Smart his closest pursuer with 30–and the winner’s connections have bold ambitions for him to fly the flag for Qatar on the international stage in the months to come. Dubday may next be seen in the G2 Dubai Gold Cup on the Dubai World Cup card, with Al Shaqab’s Racing Manager Harry Herbert also outlining plans for potential appearances at Royal Ascot and in the Qatar Goodwood Cup. 

Al Boenain outlined plans for a new racecourse in Qatar, which is likely to be a step up in size from the friendly and easily navigable Al Rayyan, though not on the extraordinary scale of Meydan. 

“We are looking for a bigger grandstand and a new track for the future and that’s in progress now,” says Al Boenain. “We are still planning it. First, the location is very important and secondly we need to have a good design for it. We want to make it a friendly track so people are close to the horses and can see the horses and feel like they are at the races. We’ve visited beautiful racetracks all over the world and we are looking for a design which will keep the spirit of racing for people coming to the track.” 

He continued, “We are not looking for a huge track – Qatar’s population is not that big and we don’t want to build a racetrack for just one day–we want to build one that suits all our racing season. We want to keep this racetrack [Al Rayyan] but also build something else so we have options – a different track gives different opportunities to the horses.” 

A new racecourse is not the only racing-related project on the go in Qatar. Phase one of a new breeding farm to the north of the country, named Al Zabara, has now been completed, with the eventual facilities set to include a stallion yard and an auction house. 

“It will accommodate about 600 horses,” says Al Boenain. “We have all the latest technology and all the facilities needed to breed the best horses here in Qatar–mostly Arabians. 

“There’s also a plan for a training center which could take up to 3,000 horses,” he added. “There are many plans for the future and it’s good to have all the people here from all over the world to see what we would like to achieve. Qatar is developing very fast.” 

Indeed, visitors to last year’s festival testify that the country has already changed noticeably in 12 months. The guest list this time around included a number of Al Shaqab’s European trainers–Criquette Head, Richard Hannon, Kevin Ryan, John Quinn, William Haggas, Luca Cumani, Sir Michael Stoute and John Gosden among them, while Todd Pletcher was also in attendance. 

The Australian party included Paul Messara and Jon Freyer of Arrowfield Stud and Bob Scarborough, Chairman of Moonee Valley Racing Club, while IFHA Chairman Louis Romanet headed a sizeable French contingent and MV Magnier and Richard Henry represented Coolmore. 

Through its various royal family members and other prominent owners, Qatar is already well represented with runners around the globe and this week it has succeeded in its ambition to show racing’s international representatives its serious intention for the country to become a significant racing nation in its own right.