UAE trainer Bhupat Seemar targets Saudi Cup and aims to defend Dubai World Cup crown

Champion trainer has high hopes for Laurel River as new racing season gets into full swing

UAE champion trainer and last season’s Dubai World Cup winner Bhupat Seemar at Meydan, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Despite landing a historic victory in the $12 million Dubai World Cup and a second UAE trainer’s title, Bhupat Seemar is determined to attack the new racing season in exactly the same way he has done in previous years.

Seemar and stable jockey Tadhg O’Shea combined to scoop the big prize on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan in March, with Laurel River wearing the silks of the renowned Juddmonte Farms.

The pair then went on to cap a most memorable of seasons by capturing the UAE trainer’s and jockey’s titles after Fall Of Rome’s victory in the season-ending meeting at Abu Dhabi on April 4.

“I still wake up the same way and still think the same way. But, you know, yes, it was very, very rewarding to win the Dubai World Cup,” Seemar told The National during an early morning training session.

“I mean, that's the stuff of dreams that people try forever and only very few people get to do it. It's great to be in that elite group and that group of people who won it is exceptional.”

After spending the summer in the UAE, Laurel River will be aimed at the $20 million Saudi Cup in February 2025 before defending his Dubai crown a month later. “He's fabulous, he's wonderful,” Seemar beamed.

Seemar is grateful to the owners for leaving Laurel River with him for the new season. He is also being rewarded with two more Juddmonte additions – Castlewarden, a four-year-old full brother to Laurel River, and Artorius, a five-year-old son of the 2017 Dubai World Cup winner Arrogate.

Seemar paid tribute to his stable jockey O’Shea, with whom he scooped the most prestigious prize of their careers before sharing the trainer’s and jockey’s championships.

“Tadhg is a top-class jockey, and he cannot not be top class if he has won 12 UAE championships,” Seemar said of the Irishman.

“He is world class. He knows this track. He knows UAE racing back to front. And you know, he's always grafting, he's always trying hard, and he's got that will that he wants to win. So, we have a great partnership in that respect.

“We both think alike. We're, you know, we can't sleep at night, at least I can't sleep at night. If I have a good horse running or I need to change something. In a way we both think alike and that's why it's a great partnership.”

The exquisite Zabeel Stables in the heart of Dubai’s financial centre has been acquired by its owners for building construction and development. Seemar and the rest of the operation have moved to Meydan, but the trainer looks back on their former home with fond memories.

“Zabeel was an incredible place. I love that place, it had so much history. It's a beautiful place,” he said when asked to reflect on the stables relocating after more than three decades of operation.

“We made a lot of memories over there. So, for now, it's the next chapter. We move on.

“And how can you complain when you have the world's biggest, most majestic racetrack to train on? So yeah, it's wonderful and it's time to make some new memories.”

The summer offered a break from racing but Seemar has still been busy attending horse sales overseas to purchase new bloodstocks for his existing owners and prospective new clients.

“Summer is a break from racing in the UAE but that's the time when I go around the world and try and source horses,” he said.

The Zabeel trainer travelled twice to the US in the summer, twice to UK, once for Royal Ascot, and twice to Ireland.

“I do it for the owners, present and new, and I obviously try and source some new clients who wants to come and race in the UAE because you've got to create that awareness of what we have. We have probably one of the best products,” he said.

Seemar has 110 horses in training and that number could get to 120 with a full capacity for 127.

The season kicked off last week at Sharjah and it goes into full swing this weekend with Al Ain hosting the first of the three meetings on Friday followed by Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi on Saturday and Sunday. Meydan host its first meeting on November 8.