Phil Collington

2022 Gulf Festival Special - Phil Collington

Mehdaaf Athbah and Phil Collington prepare for the Obaiya in 2020

© Debbie Burt

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.”

Since retiring from race-riding, Collington is one of a few trainers to still ride his horses in their work. Having travelled them all, he is uniquely placed to consider the two tracks at Al Rayyan and Riyadh and how they compare from an onboard perspective. Of the dirt track at Al Rayyan he says: “When I was out with Dossar Athbah, I found it was bit deeper and more of a training track.

“In Riyadh the outside training track is very, very good, its lighter, there’s a good cushion in it, it doesn’t ride deep. The main track itself is fantastic, it rides great when doing fast work obviously. When you watch the races there, the turns, a little bit of camber - they seem to have everything just right. All the jockeys, like Peslier and Dettori, have always said that the Riyadh dirt track rides as good as any dirt track in the world.”

Comparing the type of horse most suited to these tracks he muses: “Gate speed in these big races is important, especially in the Obaiya, as the 2000m start is right at the bottom of the back straight and the chute. There’s no chance to get a breather, they go hard and you’ve really got to stay well. The Al Mneefah on turf, I suspect, will be a bit like Meydan because you still need gate speed, but they do back up after they’ve gone round the turn. So possibly, they might not have to stay so well on that turf and the 2100m might ride a bit easier.

“I rode in a high-class amateurs race at Al Rayyan, it was quite special riding round there. They go so quick, it’s a much sharper track, right-handed. You can still come from behind, but you’ve got to have a horse that handles the quick ground there. Could you get away with a horse that doesn’t quite stay in Doha? Maybe. More so than Riyadh anyway. I think with Riyadh, you’ve really got to stay well.”

Mehdaaf Athbah and Phil Collington with Mashhur Al Khalediah and Jean-Bernard Eyquem in Riyadh for the inaugural Saudi Cup

© Debbie Burt

Over the last couple of years, despite the challenges of Covid and in Europe, Brexit, Collington has continued to travel, race and win internationally with his horses. He is proud of his team saying: “It has been a challenge and it took a bit of getting your head around all the different restrictions and working out just how much more time we’d need for the horse on the journey, but we’ve learnt how to do it and then do it better and better. It’s never going to be as straightforward as it was, but they’re still going there and performing and coming back as winners.”

Collington has plenty of experience training winners for overseas owners over the last six seasons. Having had horses from Athbah Stud, Al Shahania Stud, Mohammed bin Hamad Khalifa Al-Attiyah, and of course Sheikh Hamdan, when asked about the specific challenges that that situation can produce, he comments: “I suppose with the owners, it’s trying to work out how important it is that the horse gets to a particular meeting and to a particular race.

The Collington trained, Mohammed bin Hamad Khalifa Al-Attiyah owned, AJS Hajaj and Josephine Gordon win at Wolverhampton in September

© Debbie Burt

“Nothing really fazes me now. I can go anywhere with the horses if I’m confident that the horse will travel and run well when we get there. You do need to have a horse with the right constitution to do those trips as otherwise it does get difficult. It’s just knowing that you’re in the right race and with the right horse.

“When you travel, you take as much with you as you can, to cover every eventuality. If we’re going abroad, we’ve got a fair idea of what is normal for a horse, as far as eating and drinking goes. When one comes in from abroad, we just try and assess it very quickly, watch it carefully in the first week and try and work out from there what might need changing straight away, or any underlying issues or things to be concerned about. If you’ve got notes about it, from a previous trainer or the stud, that helps too.

Collington is happy to start his horses off for their owners, and actually prefers them to arrive well handled but unbroken. He says: “Really this last breaking session with the Qatarti and Saudi horses, it’s been quite straightforward, they’d all been very well handled but had done nothing else when we started to break them in. Interestingly, we found with that the Qatari horses, having had the experience of flying, that made a huge difference, they just adapted so quickly. Flying had made them grow up quickly, it’s amazing how it changes them.”

This year he’ll have no runners in either Festival, but it looks likely that Dergham Athbah who he trained in the UK, may go to the Al Mneefah. Considering the five-year-old colt’s chances he laughs: “We broke him in, he was particularly difficult!”

“As a two-year-old he was very, very sharp and immature. He did take much longer to break and ride away than some of the others, but then he improved quickly. In his first race he was still very green and needed it, but his second run was massive one as he finished second to the Qatari horse Al Shaamikh and just ahead of Loolwa, who I’d trained to be third in the UAE President Cup-UK Arabian Derby. He had done so well and grown up a lot from the first run. He was straight enough, but racing was always going to be what he needed to bring him on.

“Then when I was discussing his future in Dubai with Abdul Moniem [Athbah Racing’s manager], we knew that if he can do well over a mile in the UK, he’d want a mile and a quarter out there, because they go that little bit quicker. The 2220m round Abu Dhabi was perfect for him.

“As for his chances, it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the race’s first year. If Dergham has an alright draw and doesn’t get too far back (although I know he’s come from behind) I think now, with the horses that will be in the race, as long as he doesn’t get too far out of his ground, he’ll come home well. He does hit the line, he will always stay on strongly and he could run a big race.”

Dergham Athbah in the paddock before his second UK race

© Debbie Burt

With the passing of his principal patron, HH Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and the departure of Shadwell Estates from the Arabian racing scene, Collington has quickly filled that void with new horses for 2022.

Of the new intake, he considers those that might be heading out to the Gulf Festivals in 2023.

“Unfortunately it didn’t work out for Bayan Athbah this year, as she is under rated for the Al Mneefah. The race has come up almost as good as the Obaiya, with the top horses rated over 120 - which we weren’t expecting. I think originally, we thought it was going to be a high rated handicap, limited to horses rated up to 110. It would be good if they put another race on next year to cater for those horses, there’s obviously a demand, both from the domestic runners and from the internationals.

Bayan Athbah and Tadhg O'Shea win the Royal Cavalry of Oman Interational (Gr2PA)

© Debbie Burt

“We’ll certainly try to get Bayan’s rating up. She’s had a lot of things against her, she pulled a shoe off in her final race in Saudi last winter and came home lame. When she flew back to the UK, I was hoping to get her ready for Newbury [The Arabian Racehorse International Conditions Stakes], but it just came too soon. We couldn’t have got her ready any earlier than the Belgium race that she won. Her wins in the Group 2 PA sprint at Newbury and the Group 3PA at Haydock were brilliant considering her inexperience and that they were so close together. I also think that Haydock, with the ground being so quick wasn’t ideal, but since she came back to me, she’s had five runs, producing four wins and a second, you can’t ask for more than that. Tom [Marquand] said she’s ready for cheekpieces, or very shallow blinkers, she just does enough now, Mehdaaf was the same.

Her four-year-old brother, Mlatem Athbah also started in the UK with Collington and then went out to Saudi to join Lucas Gaitan. Collington is looking forward to his return, as a possible UK Derby runner this season, saying: “He’s won and been placed in Saudi already, as well as a good run in the Qatar Derby, when he led for most of the way. He’s another who could improve and go on these winter Festivals in the future.

Of his unraced horses he comments: “Hopefully the four-year-olds, Ekleel Athbah and Lewaa Athbah could be likely sorts, Ekeel is just about ready, so she’ll run soon, probably in Belgium before the UK season starts. Kafou Athbah is only three, but he moves well and has done everything right. He was broken in September and is going well, he should have done enough that we can get going with him early on.

Concluding Collington says: “They all look like the types to progress and get the sort of rating you need to run in these big international races. Hopefully, now that things are getting back to normal in the UK, we’ll have plenty of chances to get involved at this level again soon.”

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