Ahead of the Dubai World Cup, on Saturday, The National has talked to trainers and race officials about their fondest memories of the event. Today’s subject is steward Pat Buckley.
Pat Buckley has led every winning horse to the winner’s enclosure and every winning jockey of the Dubai World Cup back and forth between the paddock and the weighing scale since the first race in 1996.
His fondest memory remains the first DWC when Jerry Bailey, the amiable American, rode Cigar, the American “Racehorse of the Decade” in the 1990s, to win the world’s richest race for thoroughbreds.
“I would say the most vivid memory is the first one because it is something that never happened before,” said Buckley, one of Dubai’s longest serving stewards.
“There is always a first time and if somebody had done it before there is nothing new in it. I met Jerry Bailey for the first time and leading Cigar, the best thoroughbred from America at that time.
“I wouldn’t have met Jerry, presumably, if not for the World Cup. He was a smashing fellow and a thorough gentleman. When leading Cigar to the winner’s enclosure with Jerry on top of him, Jerry told me that I was in charge, to take him to the unsaddling and take him to the scales and then tell him what he had to do.”
Bailey won the World Cup the following year on the Sir Michael Stout-trained Singspiel for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. He won it twice again in 2001 and 2002 on the American trained Captain Steve and Street Cry for the Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor.
“Jerry knew the drills after the first one and we also came to know each other quite well,” said Buckley, himself a top jump jockey who won the Grand National on outsider Ayala in 1963.
Saturday will be Buckley’s 19th World Cup.
“I’m in charge of the paddock movement to get the jockeys out on time and to ensure they are mounted on their horses in time,” he said.
“And I have to make sure when they come back they don’t get lost, particularly the winning ones because they tend to go into their own little worlds.
“They have to weigh in soon after the race otherwise the race cannot be declared official. Thereafter they have to get ready for the next race, if they are booked on one.
“In between, the winning jockey has to come back to the paddock for the presentation for each of the nine races. For me, it has been a routine thing – apart from the first time.”
Buckley has witnessed the reactions of all the winning jockeys and says it is the senior riders from all over the world who remain the “nicer ones” to handle.
According to him, Frankie Dettori, the former Godolphin jockey, is a good example.
“Frankie would be the one to catch the eye most because he was the most demonstrative. He would hug me, kiss me, and was a real character to get the public going,” he said. “Getting him back for the presentation was the next problem. He was over the moon every time he won – and he did win many races when riding for Godolphin. He was an easy person to handle, though, as long as you didn’t bulldoze him.”
Buckley also had an interesting anecdote to relate on Dettori, who is back at Meydan as the stable jockey for the Al Shaqab Racing stables of Qatar’s Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad
“In those days at Nad Al Sheba, the winner of the final race then went back on the track for a parade, soon after the jockey was weighed in,” Buckley said.
“What we did originally was the jockey dismounted the horse and I took him to the scales, and then he returned to ride the horse on the victory parade with an ordinary exercise saddle fitted.
“We used to have little scales besides the paddocks so the jockey could get back on the horse as quickly as possible. In one such instance Frankie got on top of Dubai Millennium bareback, and nobody noticed it until we saw the photos the following day.”
For Buckley, who has spent almost his entire life in the equine industry, the World Cup has been a wonderful experience and he still enjoys his role as much as he did in 1996.
“Through the World Cup I have met famous racing characters, owners, trainers and jockeys from all over the world. So many names,” he said.
Dubai Millennium in 2000 was his most memorable winner.
“He was hyped as the horse of the millennium in 2000 and everything clicked for him,” Buckley said.
Pat Buckley was talking to Amith Passela of The National
apassela@thenational.ae
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