National Hunt racing is not something many in the UAE may be overly familiar with.
It is a sport a world away from the glittering action set to take place on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan Racecourse in just over two weeks.
So much so that no Arab rider has taken part in a race at the home of jumps racing. Before tonight.
Samir Mirdad will ride in the St Patrick's Derby, a charity flat race for Cancer Research UK that will pit him against 11 fellow amateurs, including Rishi Persad, the racing presenter, who plies his trade at Meydan Racecourse during the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
A Saudi, Mirdad is based in Dubai for 90 per cent of the year and acts as an adviser to several members of royal families in the Gulf.
In preparation for this unique test he was coached in Dubai by Richie Mullen, the stable jockey to Satish Seemar, before he transferred to Ireland to apply the finishing touches.
Mirdad is no rookie in the saddle, having competed in show-jumping events around the world, including the Dubai Horse Show in the 1990s, but the cut and thrust of a thoroughbred race is an entirely different matter.
He has endured losing weight, endless fitness training and a gruelling regime that involves a four-hour round trip to ride out, return home to look after his horses and perform a day’s international business.
For good measure, when Mirdad, 45, arrived for a recent interview, he had a black eye and a cold.
“My horse reared up on me when I was riding at The Curragh on Friday,” he said. “He was too fresh, and he reared up and gave me a shiner.
“It looks like I had just been in a street fight, and when I got on to Skype to tell my family my mother told me I should quit there and then.”
As an illustration of how little Mirdad knew of National Hunt racing, the story of how he met the men who would train him in Ireland, and embrace him as their own, takes some beating.
Through a contact who ships his nine horses to competitions around the world, Mirdad was effectively attached to the most powerful stable in the sport.
He was introduced to Willie Mullins, the overwhelming favourite to be the leading trainer at this week’s four-day Festival and who will provide his mount, Ballylongford.
Mirdad visited Mullins on a fact-finding trip, and as he sat in the kitchen of the trainer who will saddle Simenon in the Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night he was introduced to the most consummate jumps jockey in the world.
“I’d never heard of either of them before,” Mirdad said. “So before I went to Ireland I did a lot of research on Mullins, so I knew a bit about him.
“So this guy comes up to me in the kitchen and introduces himself. ‘Ruby Walsh’, he says, but it didn’t mean anything to me at all, so I go: ‘I’ve got a good friend called Walsh, he’s a mushroom farmer, is he any relation to you?”
Walsh is not the type to suffer fools gladly, but he saw through the awkward social gaffe and the two have become firm friends.
Walsh’s genial charm hides a thirst for success at the top level that cannot be slaked, and he has proved to be a tough, but generous, taskmaster.
“Ruby is so hard on me,” Mirdad said. “Willie is like the nurturing mother, while Ruby is the beat-up dad.
“He knows what my weaknesses are, and he just keeps pushing me.”
Since Monday night, Mirdad has been stationed in Cheltenham, and each morning Mullins and Walsh have walked the course with him to show him every inch of turf.
“Everybody talks about the famous Cheltenham hill, and Meydan is heaven compared to this. It is something you have to respect.”
Mirdad’s reason for taking part is almost exclusively because his grandmother died of cancer many years ago. His wife is recovering from breast cancer, but as with all projects embarked upon by the tireless men of this world, there also is a little bit in it for him.
“My grandmother meant everything to me, and she died when I was 16,” he said.
“I want to raise as much money as I can. It is for them, but I am a competitor as well, and I am not doing it for the fun of it. I was made for pressure and I am doing it to win.”
sports@thenational.ae
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SIX-RACE CARD KICKS OFF BIG WEEKEND IN UAE
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Six races are scheduled for Thursday night's race meeting at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.
Proceedings get underway at 6.35pm with the Cepsa Energy Stakes.
The final race of the night, the Nova Partnership Trophy, is scheduled for 9.40pm.
It is the start of a busy weekend of action in the UAE with races at Al Ain on Friday, Sharjah on Saturday and Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
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