American trainer Doug Watson clinched his record seventh UAE champion trainer title on Friday evening at Al Ain Racecourse, holding off three-time champion Ernst Oertel in a thrilling to-the-line standings battle.
Winding up with 40 victories, Watson claimed the championship for the seventh time, breaking the tie at six he had with Satish Seemar.
Doug Watson, right, after the Burj Nahaar victory of Midnight Sands (DRC)
Oertel ended up with 39 victories.
Watson’s strike rate was 11%, with 34% in the money.
“We have such a great team at home, both the owners and the staff,” Watson said.
“They have been fantastic and everyone works seven days a week and we went through the COVID situation and thankfully everyone’s okay from that and things have gone well (since). It was tough right down to the wire.”
Earlier in the season, a COVID-19 outbreak severely affected operations at Watson’s yard, preventing him from competing in four consecutive Thoroughbred-heavy meetings and unable to saddle horses in three subsequent meetings.
Despite such, the head of metropolitan Dubai’s Red Stables capped an excellent 2020-21 season in which he won multiple Group races, including Super Saturday victories in the Mahaab Al Shimaal (Gr3) with HH Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum’s Canvassed and the Burj Nahaar (Gr3) with The Cool Silk Partnership’s Midnight Sands.
Though winless on Dubai World Cup night, the multiple Godolphin Mile-winning conditioner placed with Golden Goal (2nd, Godolphin Mile) and Canvassed (3rd, Dubai Golden Shaheen).
Dubai World Cup Carnival handicap winner Motafaawit (5th, Al Quoz Sprint), Al Shindagha Sprint (Gr3) winner Al Tariq (6th, Dubai Golden Shaheen) and Dubai Creek Mile (Listed) victor Thegreatcollection (7th, Dubai World Cup) also picked up checks on the big night when Watson started a yard-record eight horses.
“Canvassed coming on so well at the end and running well on World Cup night and getting Midnight Sands back and winning on Super Saturday were both great,” Watson continued.
“There were a lot of good highlights through the season.I just really want to thank our team and especially Dion McFadden and all of the people who helped saddle our horses when we couldn’t. We missed two weeks with COVID and then weren’t able to attend the races the third week when our horses could finally run. None of us could go, but we got a few wins there and one day we even had 19 horses running up the (Jebel Ali Racecourse) hill. It was a great team effort.”
