Representatives of Sheikh Joaan Al Thani on Friday unveiled some of the
owner’s future plans at a press conference in London, headed by the announcement
of Harry Herbert as racing advisor.
Herbert established Highclere Thoroughbred Racing 21 years ago, and he will
continue as managing director of the syndication group alongside his new role
with Sheikh Joaan’s Al Shaqab Racing. Herbert will also continue as racing
consultant to the Cartier Awards and manage the Royal Ascot Racing Club horses.
He is also a director of Newbury Racecourse and a Jockey Club member.
Al Shaqab will be run as a separate entity from Herbert’s offices at West
Woodhay in Berkshire.
“I am extremely honored and excited to be invited by H E Sheikh Joaan to be
his racing advisor,” said Herbert, who has been in discussions for some time
with the owner and his head of media, Nasser Al-Kaabi, about the role. “I first
spoke to Nasser a few months ago about this, and it has not been an overnight
decision. We needed to talk about how all the various roles would work,
especially Highclere, which I have spent 20 years growing up. Sheikh Joaan wants
me to keep the contracts that I have, including the Cartier Awards, which I have
done for 23 years and is another thing that is close to my heart. There’s also
the Royal Ascot Racing Club, which has five horses and is part of the Highclere
contract.It’s very manageable to do everything.
“I spoke at length to Sheikh Joaan and Nasser, and it was very reassuring to
me that he didn’t in any way want this role to end Highclere and my association
there.”
A great season for Sheikh Joaan saw his filly Treve win the Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe, while he has planned for the future by signing Frankie Dettori as
retained rider in the summer. He has also made a big impression in the sales
ring when setting a European record price of 5 million guineas for a Galileo
filly at Tattersalls in October.
Al-Kaabi stressed the importance of building a good equine and human team.
“Al Shaqab Racing is one of the emerging forces in Thoroughbred racing. Our
goals and objectives are to be everywhere all over the world and to have the
most successful racing organization across the world,” Al-Kaabi said. “To
achieve that we need to have the best horses and trainers. The appointment of
Harry is a big asset to our Thoroughbred future.
“The winning feeling is tremendous, and it’s a sport that takes your breath
away. Sheikh Joaan is interested in being in the sport and expanding his
interest. It’s a passion for us that started many years ago with Arabian horses,
and now we are continuing with Thoroughbreds.”
Harry Herbert, who comes from a family steeped in turf history, is relishing
the latest chapter in a career that has seen a big racing involvement on both
sides of the Atlantic. Herbert, 54, is the son of the late Lord Carnarvon, the
Queen’s long-term racing manager, and his brother-in-law John Warren now fills
the same position. His career began in the United State in 1982 with Bloodstock
Research and he went on to work for the Matchmaker Group, a bloodstock sales,
finance and promotion company run by now TDN co-publisher Barry Weisbord.
“The sport of Thoroughbred racing is in every pore of my body, my father
instilled it in me, and this represents an opportunity to be involved in the
highest level of racing,” Herbert said. “To try and help Sheikh Joaan to achieve
those aspirations is a huge privilege to me and I’m really looking forward to
it. I’ve worked in racing for 30 years, and when I was with Matchmaker I was
involved in setting up the International Turf Festival at Washington D.C., then
we got involved at Hollywood Park. We then did the Matchmaker sponsorship at
York to create the International there.”
Since returning to Britain, where he set up HMH Management Ltd in 1985, he
has been at the forefront of racing syndication, and he believes that experience
will stand him well in the new position.
“It’s very much a racing role, as an advisor overseeing the number of horses
Al Shaqab have in training in Europe — in France and in Britain. There is an
awful lot going on at the moment, but I’d like to think I could advise on,” he
added. “For me personally, the process of seeing where the horses fit in is
important. We’ll try to get some order into telling Sheikh Joaan what his horses
are up to and a good information flow. I hope that in a year’s time there will
be more Group 1 races notched on the board and there won’t be too much
seconditis.”
Al Shaqab will be run completely separately from Herbert’s offices, and he
can see his team expanding in years to come.
“Al Shaqab Racing will be based at the Highclere offices, but in a different
part and they will not overlap. I don’t know how many people we will end up
with. We’ll start with myself and my PA and then get an assistant — there’s a
job possibility there — and the team will expand as we develop,” he said.
Sheikh Joaan is set to have 110 Thoroughbred and Arab horses in training next
season, of which 50 will be based in Britain, and he is also set to become an
owner in America for the first time. Nasser Al-Kaabi revealed that there is a
long-term plan to be more involved in American racing, and next year Al Shaqab
Racing will have horses with Todd Pletcher.
“At this time we are focusing on Europe, and in the future we hope to expand
to America and Australia, but we will do it in an organized manner to meet our
objectives,” Al-Kaabi said. “We are sending a couple of horses this year to Todd
Pletcher and we are going to expand our American racing gradually, because
racing in the U.S. is very intense and different from anywhere in the world. We
want to study the market very well, and when we have done that we will put our
foot in there. We have sent horses that have pedigrees to do well on sand to
Todd Pletcher.”
Sheikh Joaan’s horses will no longer be running in his name or in his
predominantly gray colors next season.
“We are working on new silks, which we will announce shortly, and the horses
will race under the Al Shaqab Racing banner next year,” added Al-Kaabi, who
added that Sheikh Joaan is looking forward to welcoming Frankie Dettori back to
the saddle next year. “Frankie is a major asset to us — we believe we made the
right choice when we chose him and we were very sad when he had his injury. We
hope he is with us for many years to come, and I hope he is soon back on track.”
Al-Kaabi added that, despite the successful year, his team realizes just how
competitive racing is and that Sheikh Joaan’s will to win won’t always be
satisfied.
“Sheikh Joaan has ambitions and when he enters into a race — he wants to be
number one. He doesn’t accept being second; for him, coming second is losing. We
are in this organization to lead and we hope we can do a good job,” Al-Kaabi
said. “We don’t look at anybody else in racing. We just do our job in our own
way, but our competition is big with the likes of Coolmore, Godolphin and
Shadwell — a lot of well-established operations.”
“For us to be on top of the others is an amazing feeling, but it’s difficult
— this year we had Treve, a spectacular filly and one of a kind.”