Jockey Harry Bentley rides Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari-owned The Blue Eye to victory in HH The Emir’s Trophy (Gr1) at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club in February this year.
To add to that, Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari is the leading owner and his ward The Blue Eye is the leading horse.
“Now that’s a record I am really proud of. My entire team has been able to reach the top this season,” Ghazali told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the season’s final raceday yesterday.
“And while I am very happy to have finished the season as the leader, it has been a very difficult season for me but my God has been very kind to me.”
Talking about numbers, Ghazali had 97 wins this season as compared to 184 last season but the Qatari trainer also had as many as 500 runners less this time round.
“This year the rules were different because there are now restrictions on how many runners a trainer can have in every race and how many horses an owner can have in a race. And I had accepted that this season will not be all that big like last season. So it did make it difficult for me. I had to do a lot of juggling around when it came to which horses I should have in which races,” Ghazali explained.
“In fact I even lost as many as 40 horses going into the season because the owners also wanted to run their horses and I couldn’t have run them all. But yes, despite that pressure, despite all that juggling around, I am still on top. And that’s a great feeling.”
He added: “What is also different this season is that the leading owner is not a big stud farm or a Sheikh but an individual owner.”
Asked what was the highlight of the season for him, he, without a second thought, said, “HH The Emir’s Sword Raceday.”
No brainer, actually. He had five winners on the day out of eight races. And with HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani watching the proceedings, Ghazali and his team couldn’t have chosen a better day to put up such a smashing performance.
“That was special. I work hard the entire season for that one day. I know HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will be watching and the focus has generally been on me as to what me and my horses can do. This time on the day, there was much more pressure because there were international entries. But me and my team, horses, everyone did well to win five out of eight races,” he said.
The Blue Eye was the pick of the lot with the win in HH The Emir’s Trophy (Gr1). Ridden by Bentley in the silks of Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari, the Dubawi colt comfortably beat the likes of Qatar Derby dead heat duo Tannaaf and Rogue Runners among others.
Though a month later, a ninth place in Sheema Classic in Dubai was a disappointment for the four-year-old colt and his trainer.
“Sheema Classic was bad luck for The Blue Eye because the track is left-handed and he is not used to it because the racetrack here is right-handed. But when he came back to Qatar, he won the Qatar Gold Trophy,” Ghazali said. “Dubday last season made history here in Qatar, won in England, and then he stopped racing. For me, there was a big gap to fill, especially for HH The Emir’s Raceday. Thank God, The Blue Eye came along and he did really well.”
Asked what was his plan for The Blue Eye now, and he said, “I don’t have any plans yet but we will sit down next week and plan it out then. I would personally like him to have a couple of runs in Europe, maybe Goodwood, maybe Arc.”
