On the cusp of another winter campaign, I have a bubbling mix of frayed emotions….
Trepidation, hope, ambition, excitement – aligned with a tinge of melancholy as I reflect on what has happened over the past five winters, and the equine warriors who have been our hoofbeats in the sand…
A Kingdom for a horse. The Kingdom of Bahrain…
An adventure that began one morning when I answered a call from an unknown foreign number. I know exactly where I was standing when I heard the words, “This is the office of Shaikh Saman Bin Al Khalifa in Bahrain…..”
And so our desert odyssey grew wings. La Maquina and Dawaam our pioneers. Solid handicappers. Our test pilots. La Maquina, a dude of a horse who won plenty at home, and came within a nose of being our first Bahraini winner. That photo finish still confounds…
And then the brave hero that was Lucander wandered onto the yard. Bought by Paul Bowden and Nigel Jones. Privately with the help of Tom Malone. Cool horse for sure – but his recent form gave little indication that he was about to become our “Desert Storm”. I can absolutely see slap bang in my mind’s eye the way he travelled through those twilight races, filling the emotions with hope and then utter joy…
I can still see as if it were yesterday the look in his eyes as he gazed over his domain for one final time on that miserable February evening. The eye was bright but the body was gone. I miss him still….
The baton passed to Desert Cop, Gordon Grey, Max Mayhem and Nesthorn….
The next few weeks will not define any of their careers. But it will be part of their story. It will be part of our story…
Where others have shied away from venturing afar, preferring instead the comfort of home Programme Books, we have danced several dances across gilded foreign fields…
#HaveHorseWillTravel….
There have been fabulous and fantastic and defining moments around the globe. From high Swiss mountains to glory beneath Turkish minarets. The near 600 winners have been studded with red letter foreign days with Bahrain to the fore in recent times…
Get It did pretty well over there – and perhaps the winter sun has played a key role in Stewards and Wokingham fun. He won’t be there this year, which is sad for all involved….
On we go. Thinking of the good days and the old friends like Lucander does mist the eyes and I’m not ashamed to write it. Tough game – and the emotions are torn hither and thither on occasion. And in the long dark hours, the worries and the memories and the disruptive fear play muddled games with the mind…
But what a privilege to be sending some fabulous horses and people to race and battle and fight on our behalf. I owe the horse so much. I don’t have the words to explain how they and the people around them have defined my life, and my love for both runs very deep….
May they all travel well and safely, and may tough disruption and worry give us a “bye” this time…
Go well team….
https://bahrainturfclub.com/racecard/2023-02-17/8/results#race-replay-1
