Arabian horses handler Gillian Duffield: support smaller owners

Saturday, Aug 17, 2013

Dubai: A day after saddling three winners at Newbury’s first twilight meeting for Purebred Arabian horses leading handler Gillian Duffield called for more support for smaller owners and proposed changes to make the major races much more appealing.

The annual Dubai International Arabian Race Day, which has been enthusiastically supported by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, has come and gone, but the memories will linger for a while, at least in Duffield’s case.

While none of Duffield’s successes came in any of the day’s three featured Group 1 races, she dismissed the notion that it may well have left her a trifle disappointed.

“To have a winner on any Dubai Race Day is hugely rewarding, because that’s what we all aim for,” said Duffield, who has been training Arabians since 1987. “To have three winners is obviously very special, not just for me, but the whole team.

“We may not have the right horses for the Group races, but that did not come in the way of our aspirations.”

Duffield also praised Shaikh Hamdan for his indefatigable support of Arabian racing that she credits will helping keep the sport alive the in the UK.

Defending the small field of six runners that contested the event’s showpiece race, the Group 1 Shadwell Dubai International Stakes won by Dutch raider Djet Taouy, Duffield pointed to the burgeoning European calendar of Arabian races.

“Obviously we’d like to see more top rated horses compete for such a prestigious event, but you’ve got to remember that there is a lot of Arabian racing taking place in countries like France, Holland and Sweden. So there are some tough choices trainers have to make with which race they want to target.

“On the contrary there is not a huge amount of top class Arab horses in England and very, very few English-based trainers as well. In England Arabian racing is still very much an amateur sport, unlike in other parts of the world.”

Reflecting on how things have changed since the legendary Bengali d’Albret won the first-ever running of the Shadwell Dubai International Stakes at Kempton in 1982, Duffield said: “To me Dubai Race Day has always been the biggest race meeting for Arabians.

“I remember the days when we had Bengali d’Albret and people came in hundreds just to see him race. He was such a fantastic ambassador for the sport. I would love for Dubai Race Day to go back to that sort of a draw.

“Perhaps it might be a good idea for the Dubai International Stakes to become an invitation event, where owners and trainers are given all sorts of incentives to run their top horses in it. Possibly then we will see larger fields and also attract all the top European and American horses. A lot of top races in the world today are invitation events so maybe that’s a change that we can make with our race.”

Duffield also believes that it is important to keep the small owners and breeders involved.

“We have to nurture what we’ve got and support owners and trainers at the lower ranks in order to keep out racing going,” she said. “Not many can afford to buy horses given the recession so we should protect those already in the sport, because they are the ones who love Arab horses and are in it because of the passion they have for the breed.”

Duffield commended Mansour Bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs, for his efforts to promote Arabian racing through the Zayed Cup and Wathba Stud Farm Cup series and said that it provided an ‘enormous boost to so many small owners.’

“We need to encourage anyone who shows an interest in Arabian racing and to encourage people to breed more,” she maintained. “They are the future.”

By Leslie Wilson Jr Racing & Special Features Writer