Question:For a guy that's spent enough money in the last few days to finance the war in Iraq for about five hours, this interview on Bloodhorse.com seems to reveal a really, really rich guy who doesn't seem to know a whole lot more about horse racing than you or me. In fact, there are those who believe he knows a lot more about camel jockeys.
For you, is it about developing stallions to stand in America or is it about the challenge of winning American races?
Sheikh Mohammed:
"I think they're together. You have successful stallions. You having a racing operation; you have a breeding operation. The whole thing. Buying the horses, you want them to win when they pass the racing post, then they become stallions. It's the whole thing."
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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Rich Kid in a Candy Store
Posted by Alan Mann at 2:14 PM
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5 Comments:
Regardless of how well Sheikh Mohammed knows the racing business, you can't argue with his success. Godolphin is the pre-eminent stable in the world, and has been for a long time. Sure, they spend a lot of money, but that doesn't guarantee success, and it certainly doesn't guarantee the kind of success they've grown accustomed to. Those guys are plenty sharp.
I almost forgot. I received a workout notification from Virtual Stable yesterday, on a horse who trained @ Hollywood. The track condition was described as "All Weather Surface", so i guess they have the new Polytrack installed know.
Walter wrote: Godolphin is the pre-eminent stable in the world, and has been for a long time.
Hard to argue with that of course. You could make the argument that's been leveled at the Yankees, that they've bought their way to the top. But we know that there's more to their success than that, and that many franchises have tried to buy championships and failed.
So I'll compare the Sheikh to George Steinbrenner. He's a guy with a lot of money and a brilliant businessman who surrounds himself with smart people who he holds accountable for his success.
And yes, I got a workout report on Stevie Wonderboy. The Polytrack, or whatever it is they're using out there, is in place.
Yes the Sheikh offered one too many simplistic answers. Perhaps he ripped a page from the George Bush playbook on press interviews. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; I have seen him interviewed on television and he comes across much better.
John
And he has all that success WITHOUT using Todd Pletcher as a trainer! Amazing!
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