Racing across nations

FAMILY NETWORKS: racing is full of them, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters owning, riding, training racehorses. As the racing cliché is oft repeated “it is in the blood”. A newer aspect of this phenomena in the British and Irish racing ranks is the arrival of family networks of owners from Qatar, keen to race thoroughbreds on the cloudy islands of Britain and Ireland many miles from their bright Middle Eastern homelands.

Qatar’s Al Attiyah family, which seemingly boasts an endless supply of cousins, is currently enjoying the many aspects that racehorse ownership offers in the UK … from watching exciting two-year-old winners and Group 1 performers, to counting down the days until their well-bred yearlings head from stud farms to be sold at Tattersalls.

Bloodstock agent Will Douglass has been deciphering the family relationships and managing its bloodstock and racing interests in Europe, which very much is a growing and ambitious venture.

The connections stem from the sales work he has done alongside Qatar’s former champion trainer Gassim Ghazli, and the result of a number of networking, pre-COVID trips to the region.

“I met Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah with Gassim Ghazali many years ago. He is a lovely man and works quite high up in the Qatari ministry. He had a few horses here a few years ago, but they never actually ran,” recalls Douglass. “We took them to Doha, and one of them ended up being really really good, a Footstepsinthesand colt called Almigdam.

“Two years ago, he gave me a call and said, ‘I want to do it again’. So we bought two, both by Footstepsinthesand – a horse called US Cliff and Riktar, they cost £37,000 and 27,000gns.

“US Cliff was a really nice horse, and had two or three runs at the back end of his two-year-old career. We took him to Qatar where he won his first race with Gassim, and did really well. He was sold on out there.”

THIS YEAR’S RACING HIGHLIGHT for Al Attiyah has been undoubtedly the two-year-old performances of his Mehmas colt, Gubbass. He was bought by Douglass at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale for £26,000 and is a first foal out of the Lope De Vega mare Vida Amorosa. Last September Douglass found himself in the fortunate position of being ahead of the Mehmas curve.

“I was keen to buy a Mehmas because of the Al Shaqab connection and at Fairyhouse last year there were loads of them,” he says, adding, “I was quite surprised that the sales company hadn’t reacted quicker to put more into Book 2 because they were all good enough to be in there – by then Mehmas had just started to show as a stallion what he was capable of.

“At the September Sale I actually underbid the Mehmas colt who has subsequently been named Beauty Inspire [Lot 108, sold for £25,000]. He is trained by Ger Lyons and is now a Group 3 winner.

“I then bought a Footstepsinthesand colt, who is now called Redad, and then Gubbass for £26,000gns. I really loved him, and we would have given quite a lot of money for him. I had kind of thought it was ‘fill-your-boots time with Mehmas’ at the sale and there was value to be had, although I still only bought one!”

As has so quickly become a characteristic of progeny by Mehmas, the son of Vida Amorosa was a true-to-type-yearling-turntwo-year-old by the sire – straightforward and showing signs of ability from the get-go.

His trainer Richard Hannon was certainly not shy about stating this fact, and his prediction was proved correct – the horse made a 6l winning debut at Leicester in April.

“I went to the yard in January and Richard was saying, ‘This is nice’, though admittedly he does say that quite a lot!” laughs Douglass.

“But, to be fair, Gubbass just did look ‘nice’. As the early spring progressed Richard always talked about him and kept saying he loved him.

I had kind of thought it was ‘fill-your-boots time with Mehmas’ at the sale and there was value to be had, although I still only bought one!

“Gubbass went to Leicester in April and won well, and jockey Sean [Levey] said after he’s well above average. He beat Angel Bleu decisively, and he went on to win his next two before Royal Ascot, and then won the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood.”

As is the wont with horses things did not initially go to plan for Gubbass – any hopes to run at Royal Ascot had to shelved, the horse was not quite right through the late spring and a 10-day stint of “doctor green” was administered.

The natural remedy duly worked its magic and in July, three months after his racecourse debut, Gubbass shrugged off his absence from action, went down the road to Newbury, galloped over 5f, picked up £98,340 in prize-money and broke the juvenile course record when winning the Weatherbys-sponsored Super Sprint.

“Richard had been talking about the Super Sprint since about March,” admits Douglass. “He kept saying, ‘He only cost 26 grand, he’ll have to go close’. And then he went and won. It was great. And Jassim’s cousins were there, and everyone was delighted.”

The horse has since gone on to finish third in the Richmond Stakes (G2) and fifth in a competitive Group 1 Prix Morny.

“We were really pleased with his Morny run,” says Douglass. “We think he probably wants lightning quick ground as his recordbreaking Newbury run proves, and Sean said that he just didn’t get a run in France when he needed it. He finished a close-up fifth in a very good race.”

Gubbass has all range of autumn entries – stretching from the valuable sale races that he is so well-qualified for, through to the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes and on to stallionmaking international Group 1 engagements.

“At the moment we are planning to go to the Mill Reef, to France for the Prix Jean Luc Lagardère and then possibly the US for the Breeder’s Cup,” outlines Douglass.

BUT DESPITE ALL THOSE BIG-RACE entries and probable emerging stallion plans, the Super Sprint victory has been pivotal.

“Despite the poor prizemoney, Jassim likes to have horses in England – he and his family usually spend a lot of time in London and they love England and its racing, especially the big summer Festivals,” outlines Douglass. “Winning the Super Sprint was great because it paid for every single yearling we bought last year.

“Our yearling spend was 86,000gns so we paid for their purchase, though there was not a lot left over to go towards the training fees! Richard is not so expensive, but when you have three in training, the bills, well they are just rapid,” explains the agent ruing the state of racing’s finances.

While there are significant funds from home to put towards the racing interests, the approach taken by the Qatari-based owner and the agent is realistic.

“Jassim doesn’t really spend more than 40,000gns on a horse, and I don’t want him to because that’s kind of where he is happy at.

“It means there is less pressure, and we can operate a simple plan. If they are middle-of-the-road and we think they can be a fun horse in Qatar, they go straight out there. If they’re no good, we sell them on, and if they’re good, then they stay; he has got a bit lucky though,” admits Douglass.

“We run it a quite rigidly and keep tabs on what we’re doing so we don’t have to throw money away. If we have one that is not good enough for us, we try and make a decision straight away to move him or her on.

“For us I think as juveniles they’ve got to be rated 75 or above; if as a two-year-old they’re rated at least 75 you might get into a nice Festival nursery. And then if they can progress at three you could be into the 80s and then you appeal to a resale market. That way you will get your running, and then can still take advantage of the strong resale market in the UK.”

The pair has indeed taken advantage of that resale market, albeit privately, and Gubbass has a new part-owner. Keeping it in the family, the colt’s new part-owner Al Wasmiyah Stud is a Qatari and Europeanbased concern, owned by the brothers Ali and Mohammed bin Hamad Al Attiyah, who are cousins of Jassim.

As their trading name suggests the business breeds, produces and owns racehorses in Qatar, this year enjoying great success winning the valuable HH The Amir’s Trophy with Noor Al Hawa and finishing up as the season’s fourth leading owner.

In Europe, Ali and Mohammed’s interest, despite their young ages, is via a long-term stud and business venture.

“They are in their mid-20s and again I met them through Gassim Ghazali in January 2017. We bought a mare privately shortly afterwards called Catch The Sea. She had a Dark Angel colt foal that year, and we sold him as a yearling in 2018 for 200,000gns. “Later that year I started doing more and more for them, and they became more and more interested. We bought a mare called America Nova in-foal to Siyouni for 550,000gns, and the Siyouni went on to make 800,000gns in 2019 as a yearling to Shadwell. We also bought a mare called Cup Cake, who is the dam of Suedois, and she’s got a really nice Sea The Stars colt going to Book 1 this year.

“We’ve lost America Nova and Catch The Sea, but we’ve added Shena’s Dream, the dam of Miss Amulet. And we bought a mare called Queen’s Code privately. She is the dam of Umm Kulthum, and when we bought her she was in-foal to Galileo Gold, and she has had a filly,” smiles Douglass at the luck of having a Galileo Gold on the ground.

“We also bought another mare privately called Bulrushes, who was the dam of Snazzy Jazzy and the dam of four individual stakes winners. She has a Dark Angel going to Book 1 this year and is in-foal to Lope De Vega.

“They’ve got an Invincible Spirit filly called Traisha, who won a Listed race at Bath last year. She’s quite exciting to retire – she’s out of Dress Rehearsal, she’s got a really good pedigree and was a 400,000gns yearling.

“Finally, we bought a Frankel filly foal last year, whom we’re going to keep. She’s really nice. We love her.”

Mohammed and Ali ring Douglass every day to discuss horses and races.

“But I don’t push them because they’re young.

“We’re spending a lot of money, keep fees are a lot of money. And so if they ring me, and says, ‘What about doing this?’ I say, ‘Yeah I think we could do that. You want to do it?’”

AND WHILE BREEDING top-class racehorses and creating the stud’s business “brand” is very much the end game for the brothers – it has even extended to race sponsorship of the Pretty Polly Stakes – breeding is a slow-burn and for young men keen to enjoy the racing world, a decision has been made to turn up the fun factor.

Douglass explains: “For next year we bought a Ribchester filly foal because she’s related to a good horse we have in Qatar. She’s just going to be a bit of fun, but it looks as though Ribchester is going to be alright.

“I think we just want to have a few runners to subsidise the fun – I think Ali saw the year Gubbass was providing for his cousin.

“But we want to do it in the right way so that, if they’re good enough, we can keep them; this is still very much a business interest for them.

“I try to stop spending money, but also, I said, ‘Look, if you want to buy a few colts, let’s buy a few at around 20-30 grand and, you know, we’ll can just have some fun’.

“I think that you’ve got to balance it out. It’s no good, just being all mares and foals.”

The rigours of COVID have been difficult – the family, on all sides, has been unable to travel to see the horses, which is undoubtedly a passionate endeavour for all and something they like to actively enjoy, and despite the frequent phone calls with Douglass, it is just not the same as being in Europe to see the horses themselves.

With travel now easing up, hopefully the family will have a chance to see Gubbass in his international engagements this autumn.

WILL DOUGLASS teamed up with bloodstock agent Charlie Gordon-Watson 11 years ago, and the pair are seen at most of the European Flat sales, either working together in their quest to buy quality horses, or alongside their individual clients, the younger ones generally Douglass’s domain.

The business partnership suits the man from Northumberland very well indeed – as he explains, although he is very ambitious, plans to head out on his own are for the long term.

“If I go to sales, I don’t even sign my own name, I don’t see the fascination with it!” he laughs. "Who cares? I just want to get the good horses for the clients. Everyone knows who’s buying them – you advertise them when they’re good, and you don’t advertise them when they’re bad! It’s how it works.

“Charlie is a great brand. He’s been around a long time, bought more Group 1 winners than anyone else, he is probably one of the best yearling purchasers and best judges there is, he has a lot of respect and he is a great person for meeting people.

“We’ve been working together for a while now. Very occasionally we have an odd difference of opinion, but we bounce ideas off each other, too, we do different things for clients and, you know, do you want to change something isn’t broken? It just works so well.

“Everyone asks, 'Will you leave and head alone?' But why would I? This is a really tough industry on your own, doing your own legwork, travelling around, it is pretty lonely, I think it’s really difficult.”

But maybe we could suggest there is a middle ground?

Is C Gordon Watson/Douglass Bloodstock too long a name to write on the sales docket?