The UAE horse racing community had a number of reasons to celebrate 2024, none more so than a momentous Dubai World Cup.
The Dubai World Cup has always been the highlight of the horse racing season not only in the UAE but throughout the world. This year was particularly special as Bhupat Seemar became the first local trainer to win the coveted $12 million prize race.
Saddling Laurel River in the silks of the renowned Saudi Arabian owners Juddmonte Farms and ridden by Tadhg O’Shea, the 12-time UAE champion and all-time leading jockey in the country, it turned out to be an historic occasion for the Zabeel Stables trainer and rider.
It was a tough race for the trainer-jockey partnership as O’Shea was drawn widest in the 12-runner race. But he was quick out of the gate. They got stronger as the race progressed, coming home eight and-a-half lengths clear of Japanese rider Ushba Tesoro with American hope Senor Buscador a further neck behind in third.
The six-year-old gelding by Into Mischief came into the Dubai World Cup reckoning after an eye-catching victory in the Group 3 Burj Nahar. And stepping up to the 2,000m trip, Laurel River was easily the standout horse and star of the 2024 Dubai World Cup meeting.
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UAE champion trainer and last season’s Dubai World Cup winner Bhupat Seemar. Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Last season’s Dubai World Cup winner Bhupat Seemar at work at Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Preparation for the new season at Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
UAE champion trainer and last season’s Dubai World Cup winner Bhupat Seemar. Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Training in progress at Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
UAE champion trainer and last season’s Dubai World Cup winner Bhupat Seemar. Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
It was a season that will remain in Seemar’s memory for a lifetime. Apart from the main title, Seemar also completed a Group 1 double by clinching the Dubai Golden Shaheen, also ridden by O’Shea.
Seemar’s celebrations didn’t stop on the Dubai World Cup night as the trainer and rider then went on to secure UAE championship titles with Fall Of Rome’s victory in the season-ending meeting at Abu Dhabi on April 4.
Seemar bagged the UAE trainer’s crown for the second time in three years while O’Shea stretched his record with another jockey’s trophy.
O’Shea has been a phenomenon in more than two decades of riding full-time in the UAE. The Irishman rode 50 winners to clinch his 12th jockey’s title and is out on his own as the all-time leading rider on 798 and still counting – two records that will be hard to break.
Seemar saddled 37 winners to edge out Michael Costa by a winner in the trainer’s championship.
Things could not have turned out better for Seemar, who was assistant to his uncle Satish Seemar for more than two decades before taking charge of Zabeel in 2021-2022.
The life of a racehorse trainer is tough, but the rewards are sweet. Seemar is up at 1.30am to oversee the horses train and yet, points out there are others who wake up earlier than him.
“It's the grooms who arrive first. They come in to clean up the horses, clean the stables, check the horses, then the foremen comes in around 2am, and they'll check all the horses, and then it's my turn,” Seemar recalled.
But Seemar is in no mood to rest on his laurels. Looking ahead of the 2024-2025 season, Seemar has Laurel River targeted at the $20 million Saudi Cup in February and the title defence of the Dubai World Cup in March.
The Zabeel trainer also has Tuz aimed at the Golden Shaheen. The seven-year-old Oxbow gelding was an impressive winner on his reappearance in the Listed Al Garhoud Sprint on December 6.
Beyond the UAE, the fifth running of the Saudi Cup saw Senor Buscador win the record $20 million prize at the King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. However, Senor Buscador could not complete the double as he finished third in the Dubai World Cup.
Also, earlier this month, Connor Beasley on Heros De Lagarde won the Dh8 million Group 1 President’s Cup for Omani trainer Ibrahim Al Hadhrami, who took his biggest career prize at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club to draw the curtains on an action-packed year.
