Hipodromos y caballos - Racetracks and horses BloodStockReview2013 | Page 74

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AR AB R ACING AND BREEDING

Arabians take to
the world’s stage
SET IN THE HEART OF THOROUGHBRED COUNTRY IN NORMANDY,
WATHBA STUD FARM PROUDLY FLIES THE FLAG FOR ARAB RACING

ESTLED among several leading
thoroughbred establishments in
the heart of Normandy, Wathba
Stud Farm, which is home to 30 Arab
broodmares and five stallions, has been
owned by Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al
Nahyan since 2009, writes Isabel Mathew.
Martial Boisseuil has been involved
in looking after the ruling family of Abu
Dhabi’s interests for more than 20 years.
“It all started with Sheikh Mansoor’s
father Sheikh Zayed,” he says.
“I bought horses for him and it has
just continued from there. Back then the
sheikh was the leading purchaser of Arabs
at auction, but it has all changed now as
all the horses in training have been bred
by Sheikh Mansoor and are by his
stallions.”
One of these is Mushrae, winner of
three of his four starts this year,
including the £700,000 Qatar
Arabian World Cup on Prix
de l’Arc de Triomphe day.
Trained by Jean-Pierre
Totain at Pau, Mushrae
is a son of Wathba’s
superstar stallion Munjiz
and has contributed
to one of his owner’s
six Group 1 wins this
year – and to a tenth
successive breeders’
title. Also a Group 1
winner for Sheikh
Mansoor, Munjiz is
out of champion mare
Unchained Melody,
who won 37 of her
38 races.

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Comprising more than 180 hectares
of prime land near Argentan, Wathba was
previously a thoroughbred farm known as
Haras de Clairefeuille. It also acts as a
pre-training facility for the youngstock
before they go into training in France.
Sheikh Mansoor, who is chairman of
the Emirates Racing Authority, is active in
the day-to-day running of the operation.
Boisseuil says: “The sheikh keeps a close
eye on everything that goes on here and
he makes all the decisions.
“Arabs are broken in July of their
two-year-old year and go into training
in January as three-year-olds. An Arab
would run about ten seconds slower than
a thoroughbred over a mile, but apart
from that there isn’t much difference.
“They start racing at three and their
four-year-old year is the most important.
At three an Arab is like a juvenile
thoroughbred in physique.”
Wathba Stud Farm also carries the
name of a series of 25 races that take
place across nine countries – Sweden,
Switzerland, Holland, the United States,
Belgium, France, Poland and the
United Kingdom, as well as Abu Dhabi
– in order to support smaller breeders
across the world.
The success of Wathba looks set to
continue for years to come, especially
with a future potential champion
sire in the making when
Mushrae retires. 
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