The Al Maktoum School Of Management Excellence construction project reached a significant milestone last week with the laying of the first foundations. Please click the thumbnail above to view a few pics taken on site.
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Anyone who has had the opportunity to stay in one of Hartford’s beautifully appointed Lakeside Suites will have been able to appreciate the talent, creativity and artistry of Cheryl Goss.
The Al Maktoum School of Excellence is fortunate to have Cheryl leading the design and development team and one can already see from the preliminary drawings that the facility is not only going to be situated on a site with the most magnificent views, but that it is going to be a building of great beauty itself.
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Stephen GillThe Emperors Palace National Yearling Sales is an exhilarating time for us, not only for the opportunity it presents to showcase the stock emerging from the farm, but for the many visitors who travel so far to visit us at Summerhill. This year was no exception. In the immediate aftermath, we had people from Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and from various parts of the country, descend on Hartford House, and of course there was good cause to celebrate this year on the back of a staggering sale.
Eminent among those who returned to the farm was Stephen Gill, former financial director to His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum, the late Ruler of Dubai. Stephen gave 21 years of his working life to the Maktoum cause, and has been in the employ of Sheikh Maktoum’s successor, Sheikh Mohammed for the past 25 years. He has since retired from the service of the Ruling Family, and is now pursuing his own interests, principal among which is his involvement in the breeding of horses at Summerhill and as a trustee of the Al Maktoum Trust, where he is one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Al Maktoum School Of Excellence.
Stephen expressed himself well satisfied with the foundation work which has been undertaken at the school site, and includes the development of a spectacular stretch of water at its foot.
Among the many things discussed while Stephen was here, including the curriculum, staffing, accreditation of courses, the financial aspects relative to the development was obviously the plans. We’re now in the process of finalising these, and expect that foundations will be laid in early June.
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“The oats is shooting and the new dam earthworks are on schedule…”
(Photos : Barbara Meier and Barry Watson)
Two weeks, since we last posted a progress report, is all it’s taken to transform the new Al Maktoum School Of Management Excellence site from a patch of bare earth into a nursery for a crop of oats.
Barry Watson and the agricultural team have worked tirelessly to carefully prepare the ground and time the planting to perfection, and their efforts have been rewarded with an ever-thickening carpet of brilliant green shoots. Oats was selected primarily because of its aggressive root structure which will serve to retain the soil until construction commences. However, it is also a fast growing crop and the above average rainfall for the period has, no doubt, been responsible for the crop’s great response.
The location of the school was selected to take advantage of the magnificent valley views of the Panjandrum and Preston Pan dams. To further enhance the view, an additional dam is being built immediately in front of the school site above Panjandrum Dam. The intention is to create the impression of a continuous cascade of water down the valley. The core of the new dam has been prepared and earthworks have been completed up to ground surface. All that now remains is for the earthworks above ground to be completed, which will take approximately 6 – 8 weeks, weather permitting.
*Recorded February Rainfall 2007 to 2009 (mm)
“A seasonal or longer internship at Summerhill is unlike most in the world.”The Thoroughbred industry is part of an extremely well established global trade. This must be one of the industries with the greatest potential for international travel for a young person. You have people travelling the sales circuit from one country to another, and others working 6 month breeding seasons on opposite sides of the equator, on a regular basis. It’s not only about the work, but also experiencing the cultures, traditions and environments of all these countries. With horses, it barely matters what language you speak, because the skills you need are universal and the most important attribute is passion. Singularly, passion is the only language.
Besides the fact that Summerhill has sent its employees from the previously disadvantaged community on more than 32 overseas trips, we also offer opportunities for young people to work here. This has provided us with some exceptional seasonal help over the past 10 years, provided by locals and people from abroad. Thoroughbred racing is a diverse profession, and spending time on a world class stud such as Summerhill, you are not only exposed to stud work, but also get a glimpse on so many facets of the racing world.
Our interns of the past include:
Mick Flanagan
Mick FlanaganMick is from County Louth in Ireland and spent several months in 2006 working at Summerhill. He has worked at a variety of the top studs in the world including Coolmore America, Haras du Logis and Haras de la Louviere in France. Currently a second year intern on the Darley Flying Start course, Mick is doing a 5 week placement with Mike De Kock in Dubai.
“My time at Summerhill was one of the most enjoyable times in my life so far. What a team and what an environment for a horse to grow up in. I was afforded lots of hands on experience during my couple of months at Summerhill moving from morning management meetings to stallions, to yearlings, to broodmares and trackscavators!” “I learned so much about the South African bloodstock industry while at Summerhill and it is definitely a place where I will be spending more of my time in the not so distant future.”
Douw Coetzee
Douw CoetzeeAfter finishing a year and a half internship at Sequel Stallions in New York, South African born and bred Douw worked two seasons at Summerhill as assistant broodmare manager. He then did the internationally renowned Irish National Stud course and is currently working for Arrowfield Stud in Australia.
Claire Neveux
Claire NeveuxClaire came to us as the top graduate of her year at the Irish National Stud course, after previously having worked at Lord And Lady Lloyd-Webber’s Watership Down Stud in Hampshire. After finishing a season at Summerhill, Claire returned to her native France, and is studying Animal Science at Paris Diderot University.
Declan Foy
Declan FoyAnother Irishman, Declan initially started his career as a banker and then swopped it for the greener pastures of Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stud in England. Shadwell’s 20 year association with Summerhill led to Declan coming here last season. He worked as Assistant Foal Manager at Summerhill in the 2008 foaling season, our biggest seasons yet, with 245 mares foaling down. After completing his season at Summerhill, Declan is currently working at Juddmonte Farms (our Broodmare Manager, Annet Becker, is another Juddmonte graduate) in America, after which he will do a season in Australia.
“I learnt a great deal from my time at Summerhill and it was wonderful being part of such a successful team with a great attitude to working hard. I would encourage anyone to spend a season there as it is the most rewarding and worthwhile experience”, says Declan.
A seasonal or longer internship at Summerhill is unlike most in the world. The experience you get here in all the different aspects of horse management, from treating sick horses, evaluating young stock, staff management, client relations to sales prep and breeze ups, is a lot more challenging than in most other countries of the world, mainly because the level of responsibility is much greater. Interns are not simply used as labourers, but are introduced to the demands of management. It involves long hours and is not for the fainthearted. Accommodation on the farm and a living allowance are provided.
Colin Powell once said: “Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude”, and this philosophy is the driving force behind every element of preparation for both the building and the curriculum for the Al Maktoum School of Management Excellence.
While the agricultural team oversees the site preparation for the school, and the design is being tweaked to ensure maximum functionality while taking full advantage of the magnificent site which has been cleared, work continues behind the scenes on the development of a curriculum which will be worthy of international accreditation.
The curriculum is being designed to firstly offer entry-level candidates the opportunity for practical, hands-on training in the breeding operation as a whole and, secondly, to offer more advanced candidates the opportunity to specialise and to study a broad range of management studies which are pertinent to the industry and to the efficient running of a breeding operation.
Managers and business partners alike are hard at work adapting and collating the best study material possible, and the team is working towards finalising the final drafting process during the month of May.
“HISTORY IN THE MAKING”
The great thing about the horse business, as we’ve said before, is that every day there’s new history being made, some big and some small.
Today is a big day for Summerhill, as it signifies the beginning of one of the more spectacular milestones in our thirty years on this property. It’s two decades this year since we first commenced our association with the Ruling Family of Dubai, and one of the enumerable benefits that have accrued from that relationship has been the upliftment of our previously disadvantaged people. The presence of the Maktoum stallions at Summerhill has not only contributed in large part towards the enhancement of the genetic integrity of the South African Thoroughbred as we know it, but it has created many hundreds of jobs in our province, not only at Summerhill, but on neighbouring properties housing mares which patronise these stallions.
It’s appropriate then, as we pen these lines, that Sheikh Hamdan’s Kahal bestrides the leader-board on the General Sires Premiership, a timely reminder of what today means in the annals of the Champion Stud.
About a year ago, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the current Ruler of Dubai, proclaimed the foundation of the Al Maktoum Trust. Under the guidance of the Deputy Ruler, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Shadwell Stud, it has been decided the best way to honour the life of the late Ruler, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the family’s contribution to the affairs of South African racing and breeding, was to erect a memorial of lasting consequence. This will take the form of the Al Maktoum School of Management Excellence, and while there has been considerable work done in establishing curricula, the recruitment of lecturers and the raising of funds, the actual foundations will be laid this morning.
The earthmovers will be on site within hours of this note, where we’ve selected a position of staggering beauty, for the location of a facility which is set to contribute substantially to the education and growth of management skills in the South African horse business.
For the record, Summerhill has just concluded its 32nd annual international scholarship, (mainly Zulu graduates) to the farms of the Sheikhs Maktoum in the USA, Ireland and England. In a programme which kicked off more than a dozen years ago, we’ve seen the growth of people beyond all expectations, and a new realisation of their self-worth and an infection in the rest of our people of standards hitherto unknown.
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