GOODWOOD, ENGLAND // When it was announced in December that Qatar would sponsor Glorious Goodwood through 2024, the focus was on how much money the country was going to put in to the five-day meeting, which starts Tuesday on the south coast of England.
The rebranded Qatar Goodwood Festival boasts prize money of £4.5 million (Dh25.8m), a huge advance on last year.
Within that portfolio is the headline £1m Sussex Stakes tomorrow, as well as the £400,000 Harwood International, Britain’s most lucrative Purebred Arabian race, on Saturday.
Such is Qatar’s increasing hold on the sport in Britain that David Redvers, the racing and bloodstock adviser to Sheikh Fahad bin Hamad Al Thani, warned last week that the time may have arrived for Britain to stop leaning on the Qatari rial.
In an interview with the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary website, Redvers said: “I recently had a conversation with someone high up in British racing who was asking if we would sponsor an event and I said ‘Who knows what’s around the corner? You should spread the net a bit wider’.
“Just going with a begging bowl isn’t healthy for anybody. An over-reliance is never healthy. For one thing, there’s a danger of souring the golden goose.”
In Purebred Arabian racing, the sport saw Qatar’s ability to change tack in an instant.
Priorities have shifted since Nasser Sherida Al Kaabi, formerly Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad’s media adviser, took over as general manager for the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) from Sami Jassim Al Boenain.
Last year, Qatar had a huge sponsorship programme of grass-roots Purebred Arabian racing.
This year, they simply uprooted the Harwood International from Doncaster in September and landed it at Goodwood. It was a move that has been widely criticised. The grass-roots sponsorship disappeared, too, only for the slack to be taken up by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, alongside Abu Dhabi’s continued support through the Sheikh Mansour Festival.
The sponsorship of Goodwood is not by Qipco, but QREC which, unlike Qipco, is a government organisation. Being backed by a private company such as Qipco is one thing; being bolstered by a country is another.
In May, Al Shaqab, the racing operation of Sheikh Joaan, sponsored the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
On that day, six runners were sent out by Qatar-based trainers and Jassim Al Ghazali, Qatar’s champion trainer, has entries this week at Goodwood, as does Zuhair Mohsen.
It is hoped that Qatari trainers and owners will play a larger part in both racing and the purchasing of bloodstock in England and France, where QREC also sponsor the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend, in October.
“Racing is one of the biggest sports, after soccer,” Al Kaabi said. “It has been in our strategy for many years to be part of this, as it puts the Qatari flag everywhere.
“We want to get more Qataris involved in racing, whether that is in Doha or in Europe, and we will do everything we can to help them achieve that.”
Al Kaabi also revealed that, after Goodwood, he will announce a restructure to the race programme in Qatar.
New race distances, conditions and prize money will be put in place to better assist Doha’s ambitions to host an international meeting that could rival Meydan’s.
Qatar’s sponsorship of Goodwood has helped the racecourse upgrade its facilities and boost its prize money to attract top runners to its idiosyncratic test, although the absence of Gleneagles from Monday’s Sussex Stakes declarations shows money only goes so far.
Investment in sport is clearly a good thing but in this instance it also could change the dynamic of a race meeting which King Edward VII once famously called a garden party with racing tacked on.
“In some ways I hope it does not change the week,” said Adam Waterworth, the managing director of Goodwood racecourse, referring to the new sponsorship. “I hope people still see it as that wonderful meeting that we all love.”
By 2024, when the 10-year Goodwood deal ends, will Qatar be as interested in English racing as it is now? Some believe sponsorship may be reduced after the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar will host.
British racing is Qatar’s friend, but might there be a time when that friendship is seen as a millstone around the sport’s neck? For now, the shorter-term seems paramount.
“You’ve only got to look at the money being put into Goodwood and how many people will benefit,” Al Kaabi said. “The owners will be happy, the trainers will be happy and the public who come to enjoy the sport will be, too. For us, that is a success and we will benefit from the promotion.”
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