UAE flagbearer Al Nabooda looking forward to another brilliant year

By Duane Fonseca

Dubai: The quest for perfection is ingrained deeply in the DNA of Emirati owner breeder Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda, who is bidding for a third straight UAE Champion Owner title this season, which would take his cumulative total to four overall.

For motivation, he only needs to look within and, of course, around him. But not too far.

Top Thrice: Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda has won the UAE Owner' title three times (supplied)

The teutonic efficiency of the high-profile German automotive brands his company are dealers for in the UAE provide enough high-octane fuel to drive his unceasing passion for the racehorse, and, in particular, the Purebred Arabian breed.

That unrelenting passion married to his quest to perfect UAE bloodlines has kept his wheels turning in top gear over the years. The last four seasons have been particularly rewarding for Al Nabooda with his three Owners’ titles won therein and 2018/19 bringing him the proverbial icing on the cake in the form of AF Maher’s victory in the PA Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic.

It was the second time a horse bred at his Aweer Farm (AF) had won the race, AF Mathmoon underlining his finesse as a breeder in the 2016 edition of the race in the colours of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.

AF Maher’s success underlined Al Nabooda’s long held belief that UAE bred horses could compete and win against some of the best bred horses from around the world.

Edging it: Oertel trained AF Maher with Tadhg O'Shea up won the 2019 Kahayla Classic for Khalid (ERA)

The Emirati pioneer might have got the world to take cognizance of the UAE breed, but he won’t rest and neither will he sit back on his laurels.

Currently top of the owner’s ranking with six wins, Al Nabooda is looking forward to the next few months of racing and will be keeping his fingers crossed in the hope of recording a fourth title.

In an in-depth interview, the master craftsman discussed his plans going forward and revealed his secret to successfully transitioning between his roles as businessman, horseman and family man.

Excerpts...

After the season was cut short last time you must be really looking forward to the 2020/21 campaign?

With horses you always have to plan forward. Starting preparations just before the season is not enough. You have to get things going 3-4 months in advance.

From what I’ve seen so far this season our horses are running well. Competition is never easy, especially from the big stables.

To win the Championship alongside my trainer and jockey was not easy in 2019, but it showed that we are a nice team. And the team is not just us, it’s everyone working behind the scenes as well. It’s a big group of people.

But thank God we managed to reach our goal.

Before AF Maher won in 2019 I bred AF Mathmoon who won in 2016 in the colours of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan. If we hadn’t cancelled the race last year, AF Maher would probably have been running in the race so I hope he can run this year.

We have an invite for AF Al Bairaq to run in the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (4 December at Abu Dhabi). I was lucky to get a chance to run him in that race (Jewel Crown prep) in Abu Dhabi and he showed his ability. Ernst knew his ability and was telling me about it and now he’s shown he is very competitive so I hope he runs well in the big race.

Our horses are doing well this season. Some have won good races and some ran good races but finished close like second and third. Of course I will not win everything but as long as I can see my horses fit and running well and competing until the final week, I am happy.

Your partnership with Ernst Oertel and multiple Champion Jockey Tadhg O’Shea has worked out well over the years. Comment...

Our team is the same and I hope we can continue. Ernst is training my horses mainly and I sent a few to other trainers as well like Ali Rashid Al Rayhi, Musabbeh Al Mheiri, Mahmood and Qaiss Aboud.

Khalid's first choice trainer: Ernst Oertel (FB)

I have known Ernst for more than 20 years when he was working in Newmarket and after that the relationship cooled down because I stopped racing in England and started to breed horses here. Then he came and started to train for The President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and then had the accident and was looking to return to training.

So, we joined forces and it’s worked well. You need to know each other well for things to work and have common goals. Of course Ernst and I discuss many things, but I try my best not to put him under pressure.

So, there’s a few horses with other trainers, but I thank God we are continuing in much the same way as before.

As a breeder you have bred some top horses through some quality stallions and mares that have won top class races like AF Maher’s victory in the Dubai Kahayla Classic in 2019? How’s that side of your operation ticking along?

I had five farms for breeding, the fifth one was in France but I have just closed that. I still have horses in France and they’re being looked after by other farms.

Winning return: O'Shea and AF Maher are led back to the winners' enclosure after their 2019 Kahayla Classic success (FB)

The reason I closed the farms is because it’s too expensive to run, especially with the rules there regarding employees and other things.

I care a lot about my reputation and don’t want to tarnish that because of any kind of oversight with regards to the rules they have. I thought it was better certain people looked after my horses and at the moment I have my horses with three farms over there.

I have some top quality stallions, and to be a top stallion, a horse has to prove himself on the track first and then at stud. You cannot say a stallion is good until his progeny have proven that he has passed on his traits to them.

I have different lines of broodmares and not all are black-type. Some have run well, but haven’t achieved and I don’t write them off but try to work with those and cover them with the right stallions. There is no guarantee of course.

No one can say if you pair a certain stallion with a certain mare you will get a certain result. I don’t think that can be done. If someone tells you that it will most certainly not be the truth because a lot of it depends on how the genes are passed.

At the end of the day, as a breeder I aim for something that might not happen because a horse has to be developed in pre-training and then raced and you will only know how capable a racehorse is when it starts competing. So nobody can guarantee you anything.

Can you tell us more about the Emirates Bred Syndicate (EBS), which you helped initiate?

This is the fourth year for EBS and there are two aims. Firstly, it is to help UAE breeders pay for their operation and training fees which are expensive.

Many people are against locally bred horses, so my aim was to keep local breeders from going out of business.

Secondly, many people would love to own horses, but are working and have a lot of other financial commitments so they cannot really buy horses because it could affect their finances elsewhere. So, I invite them to join the syndicate and own a stake in a horse by paying a share of the training fees that corresponds to their share in the syndicate.

I want people to come and enjoy racing and learn more about horses. It’s not about making money, but about bringing more people into racing.

You are perhaps constantly asked about why you don’t race your horses abroad. What keeps you from racing overseas?

When you race overseas, I feel you don’t represent yourself, you represent your flag, and to represent your flag you need to have a strong weapon. Secondly, horses are not machines and it’s too much to expect them to compete throughout the season here and then make them run in Europe as well.

I think it’s a bit greedy to do that. Many other factors can affect their performance as well like the climate and ground conditions. I am the kind of person that cares more about horses than money. Of course, I would like to see my horses winning everywhere, but with places like Europe, if it rains the conditions change completely, so I have to assess whether it’s worth taking that chance or not. That’s why I prefer to focus on the UAE.

How would you define yourself as a horseman?

The horse means everything to me. I used to like dogs when I was in school. I was also into gardening, fishing. I like camping. I like things like these. My love for horses started at 16 and when I started riding here there were only Anglo horses. People may not know it, but I am allergic to horses, despite that I’ve ridden them.

I’ve learned about horses from the people who have run farms before me. I’ve listened to them and learned from the kind of seminars organised by Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid. I am sure with attending those seminars and mingling and talking with experts in the field you are bound to learn a lot.

As a breeder it’s my mission to prove that locally bred horses can compete with the best in the world and we will continue to produce those nice horses.

How do you juggle between being a businessman, horseman and family time?

Horseracing needs money so you need to work hard to pay your bills and finance your hobby. In the morning, I am always in office doing my work as a businessman.

The horseman emerges in the afternoon. I visit my farms and go around to see how things are being done. You can pick so much from just observing things: what’s right and what’s not. You need to have the right people working for you, not to just catch people making mistakes, but to help people correct those as well. Evenings are family time.

So this is how I separate the time spent at work, with horses and with my family.