When the phone went at the racing yard run by Claire and Dan Kubler in England earlier this summer neither could quite believe what they were hearing.
On the other end of the line from Bahrain was Sheikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa, a grandson of the King, who was offering the couple the golden chance of a lifetime – to move to the Kingdom to become his and the extended Royal Family’s personal racing trainers, while also playing their part in his grand vision for the development of the sport in Bahrain and its place in the Middle East region.
“This sort of thing just doesn’t happen,” Claire told The National. “It came totally out of the blue. It was a big decision, and we spent many nights discussing it. But in the end the chance to be involved in something truly special was one we could not resist. It is life changing and a real honour to be chosen.”
Since that fateful call, their life has been something of a blur as they have made plans and worked out what to do with their flourishing yard in Lambourn, Berkshire, which they have painstakingly built up over the past five years.
They made the leap to Bahrain six weeks ago where they have already recruited a whole new team for the start of what they hope will be an incredible journey.
While on the surface, it might appear they were selected out of the blue by His Highness, the Kublers, who are in their early 40s, have been quietly raising their profile in the sport in recent years with their data-driven, innovative and scientific approach to the job winning many admirers.
For instance, Claire says that the more you delve into racing, the more intriguing it is and a puzzle to solve, not that you always will of course.
Their paths crossed with Sheikh Isa in 2023 after their horse Astro King won the Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket. That earned him a place in the Bahrain International Trophy that year.
Although he did not win, the Kublers must have made the right impression with His Highness, whose drive and ambition as chairman of the Bahrain Turf Club is boundless. No doubt he did his due diligence and decided that they were the right people for the job.
“What was amazing when we spent more time talking to Sheikh Isa and his team was just how much our core values overlapped,” said Claire explaining their decision to switch.
“Our common goals, the care for the team, for their development, the love of the horse, it's so embedded in the culture. It's so obvious when you talk to His Highness that he just adores horses, and he just wants his team to be the best.
“We sat down and went through the whole vision for Bahrain racing. It’s just really exciting to play a part in that and contribute as best that we can and help attract people here and be involved in the excitement of it. This is a long-term project.”
Asked to explain Sheikh Isa’s vision, Claire continued: “How I interpret it, is it's very thoughtful and it's very clear. He always brings everyone into the decision-making to ensure that the right visions are put in place. It's incredibly ambitious.
“He wants to compete together among all nations within the Middle East and put together a race programme that improves racing domestically but which slots in nicely with the other jurisdictions; getting international horses that can come over here and compete throughout the winter between all the countries. It makes an awful lot of sense.”
There are 33 horses in the yard with six more arriving over the next two weeks. Training is ramping up ahead of the start of the 12 race Turf Series which runs from December to March, and which is growing in profile and quality.
The Kubler’s approach to training and their backgrounds has set them apart. For a start, at the age of 12 Claire decided she wanted to be in racing as her father had a small yard in the Lake District. But not for her the traditional route.
Being of a scientific bent, she went to Cambridge University where she read natural sciences specialising in physiology, with her dissertation on muscle cells being published in the esteemed Journal of Physiology. She then trained as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in audit and forensics which again played to her strengths.
Both were deliberate steps towards her grand plan; physiology helping her to understand the animal, accountancy how to run a business. Then it was on to the shop floor and the slog around various yards, including working for John Warren, then the late Queen’s racing manager.
It was then that she met Dan, a South African, who she describes as having the ultimate creative mind and who was and remains obsessed by sport and the cross fertilisation of ideas.
“I was pretty fortunate to meet someone very like-minded, very ambitious, very open-minded in his thinking, and very creative as well,” said Claire.
Their approach is from the perspective of the outsider. “You see different alternatives that might not have been thought of before. Dan does so much research into other sports and what they are doing, whether it's cycling or rugby, football, Formula One, cricket, he's a real geek.
“It is about absorbing information and seeing how we can just get better. Not just for the results, but also for the horses, so you're doing the best that you can all the time and for your owners.”
Asked what she thinks is their USP, she replied: “Bringing in that more analytical and science approach; fully understanding the physiology of your horse and adapting to different demands but also looking at what data there is out there. But not just having that data, it's the ability to analyse it and see the trends that are relevant. I love doing stuff like that.
“Another big USP is our development of the team. We really care about them being able to progress. Not only is it then rewarding for them but it means the horses are also able to thrive because they're doing exactly what's needed.”
