MOHAMMED KHALEEL - Things are hotting up in the Desert

We’ve been reading a lot of late on various opinions leading up to the Dubai World Cup meeting, mainly from trainers connected with their horses. However, we haven’t really had too many owners’ perspectives, and so we thought we’d get a view from Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum and his team, as they have one of the biggest entries on the night. His right-hand man is Mohammed Khaleel, an accomplished horseman in his own right, and a man who loves the game as passionately as anyone we know.

Mohammed was more than upbeat when we spoke to him about World Cup night, but he prefaced his remarks with the view that the southern hemisphere horses, speaking specifically of South Africa, South America and Australia, were right up there with the better horses from the northern hemisphere, and they were delighted with their South African acquisitions. To quote him, “as buyers we’re still finding excellent value in South Africa, and while that may not always be good news for those who sell to us, it obviously remains very attractive for us to invest in the South African market”.

Those of us that breed here though, know that our costs are incurred in Rands, and that for as long as we’re able to make a reasonable profit from our endeavors, we’re always happy to know that the buyers are getting good value. That’s the case right now, and so for as long as it endures, may our foreign supporters get whatever meat there is on the bone.