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2022 Gulf Festival Special Phil Collington
Mehdaaf Athbah and Phil Collington prepare for the Obaiya in 2020 To date, Newmarket based trainer Phil Collington has trained the winners of eleven PA Group winners, including Mashhur Al Khalediah, winner of what was then the world’s most valuable Arabian race on Turf, the 2019 Jewel Crown in Abu Dhabi. He has also been leading UK Arabian trainer (in 2018) and when he rode as an amateur, principally for HH Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, he was also leading ARO jockey on five occasions. He is the only UK Arabian trainer to have experience of having runners in the three main Arabian races in the Gulf - the HH The Amir Sword, the Obaiya Arabian Classic and also the Dubai Kahayla Classic. Though Collington does not have a runner in either of the Qatar or Saudi principal Festivals this year, he is looking forward to going out to the Saudi Cup, as as the guest of HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed, owner of Athbah Racing. Considering the two Festivals Collington says: “When I went out to the Amir Sword with Dossar Athbah in 2017, I was
very pleased with what was on offer to the internationals. The inside of Al Rayyan is nothing like Riyadh, but still great facilities, the hospitality is amazing. The race meeting itself, there’s a great atmosphere and it was a really, really enjoyable day. We’d had runners and winners in Europe before that, but Dossar was my first Middle Eastern runner. “As for Mashhur Al Khalediah and Mehdaaf Athbah, they went out to Dubai after running in Paris in the Qatar Arabian World Cup in 2019. Mashhur then went by road to Abu Dhabi, ran in and won the Jewel Crown, whilst Mehdaaf continued to Saudi and Mashhur followed on. I was back and forth that winter from the UK to Saudi. Mehdaaf was second and third in the first two Arabian races that they held on the main Riyadh track. Mashhur ran in the prep for the Obaiya, and of course was third in the Obaiya itself, whilst Mehdaaf was sixth. It was a brilliant experience.”
THE ARABIAN RACEHORSE
