Jassim Ghazali is known for many things in Qatar. For instance, his ward Dubday was the first Qatar-trained Thoroughbred to win in the United Kingdom. He swept an eight-race card in April of 2015. He also notched 176 wins in the 2014-15 season.
This season, however, has been slightly different. Ghazali has fewer wins, and has missed out on some of the big victories.
But what hasn’t changed is that he still has stayed on top of the championship at the conclusion of yet another season of horse racing at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club yesterday.
“For me this season has been a very tough one, a very hard one,” Ghazali, who finished with 87 wins this season, told Gulf Times yesterday.
“I have had to deal with some new rules at the Club. I used to have around 200 horses, but now a trainer can only have 100 horses. That meant I had to give up on half the number of horses, and consequently I have lost out on many winners, quite a few owners.
“But well, despite all this, I am still the leader in the championship and I thank God for that. He gave me the strength to overcome the challenges.”
After winning five during last year’s HH The Emir’s Sword Day, winning just one this time round in February must have pinched. Injaaz Stud’s Izzthatright won the Dukhan Sprint.
“Yes, I did not win a couple of big races, including HH The Emir’s Sword, but then that is part and parcel of the sport. But I am confident I will try and come back with better horses and better performances next year,” he said.
Another man, who did very well in the trainers’ championship is Frenchman Alban de Mieulle. With less than half as many as Ghazali’s runners, De Mieulle finished second in the standings, but did enough to propel HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Umm Qarn to top of the owners’ standings.
Some of De Mieulle’s big wins included TM Thunder Struck in the Qatar International Cup and Farooq in the Gulf Cup, both during HH The Emir’s Sword Meeting, and Tayf in the Qatar Derby (Group 2 PA).
“It has been a nice season for us and I am very pleased for Sheikh Abdullah. We missed the Emir’s Sword, but next season perhaps Yazeed will do it,” De Mieulle, who ended the season with 37 wins, said yesterday.
“We have around 40-50 horses in training and given the number of runs this season, I must say that we did well. It is impossible to beat Jassim because he has too many horses.”
Julian Smart had the fewest number of runners among the top five trainers but with big winners like Ebraz in HH The Emir’s Sword and Gazwan in Qatar Gold Sword, he made it to the top three, and HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani was second in the owners’ standings.
Last year’s Leading Owner, Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari had most number of wins but had to settle for third in the money list.
With second highest number of wins this season, Ibrahim al-Malki was fourth, while Ghazali’s son, Mohamed, was fifth. Ghazali will now take a break for the summer, and will only head to Europe for sales and auctions to strengthen his racing stock.
De Mieulle, on the other hand, hopes that some of his horses including Tayf and Yazeed impress in France.
“We are now going to France with some of our horses. A few of our horses have already reached. We will be preparing for the big race in October. And after that we will come back with a young stock. We will have a good stock of three-year-olds coming and also a few Thoroughbreds,” he said.
Among the jockeys, with 64 wins from 247 runners, Harry Bentley once again topped the list.
Jassim Ghazali
