Australian Olly Tait has been instrumental in the emergence of Qatari outfit Wathnan Racing which could have more than 50 runners at this week’s prestigious Royal Ascot meeting.
Observers of Qatar’s Wathnan Racing suggest its rapid rise to prominence has been because it has acquired elite horses that normally can’t be bought from people who don’t sell.
Established in October 2022 by Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Wathnan Racing has won 50 races in Great Britain in the past three years. In a sign of its rising fortunes, it claimed six stakes races in various countries in April and May alone.
And the architect of Wathnan Racing and its early success is Australian Olly Tait, a widely respected industry figure who once ran Godolphin’s global operations, was integral in Sheikh Mohammed buying the Ingham’s Woodlands racing and breeding empire 17 years ago and has since established his own stud, Twin Hills.
That property, at Cootamundra in Southern New South Wales, was once part of Woodlands and later the Godolphin/Darley empire until Sheikh Mohammed agreed to sell it to his former chief lieutenant in 2017.
So, when another Middle Eastern Sheikh, the Emir of Qatar was looking to establish his own racing operation at scale and with a focus on the best horses and the best races, he turned to Tait for guidance.
Tait, in his role as studmaster, played vendor at last week’s Inglis’ Great Southern weanling sale in Melbourne. As soon as the sale was done, he was on a plane to be in London in time for the prestigious five-day Royal Ascot meeting.
Wathnan Racing could have as many as 53 runners at Royal Ascot this week. Such is their depth, Kiwi James McDonald has been called on to ride some of its charges over the first three days of the Royal meeting including Underwriter in the Group 3 Coventry Stakes on Tuesday night (Australian time).
Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown, who also acts for Wathnan Racing, praised Tait for enacting the Emir’s vision in such a short space of time.
“We are a new operation. This is only our second full year. So, Olly Tait set out to get this thing kick-started, to go and buy some proven horses,” Brown told The Straight.
“Obviously, if you're buying yearlings or at two-year-old sales (with) unproven horses, you're not going to have any action for quite a long time.
“So, Olly set out that this is how we would do it. You know, it was an inspired move, I have to say, because it's the proven horses that have really got us rolling.
“And our involvement in that market probably has pushed the (tried horse) market up a fair bit, although we're not buying that many. We're buying very selectively.”
The plan returned immediate dividends, with Isaac Shelby finishing runner-up in the 2023 French Guineas and soon after Gregory won the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot carrying the Wathnan silks.
Significantly, at the same 2023 Royal Ascot meeting, jockey Frankie Dettori guided the Wathnan-owned Courage Mon Ami to victory in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup.
For Tait’s part, it’s about executing the Wathnan Racing vision for Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“(Wathnan) is the racing operation of the Emir of Qatar, and in terms of the goal, it's very simple, we just want to have horses that the Emir can enjoy and be proud of,” Tait says from the UK.
“So, that's been our direction from the start, and remains what we're trying to achieve.”
Tait added: “It's an exciting project to be involved in, and we've bought some nice horses, and we've had some luck along the way so far, so hopefully that can continue this week.”
The emergence of Wathnan Racing comes a decade after fellow Qatari Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, a cousin of the Emir, became involved in racing and breeding. The Emir is also the brother of Sheikh Joaan, the principal of Al Shaqab Racing which owns Toronado in partnership with Victoria’s Swettenham Stud.
Under the management of David Redvers, Sheikh Fahad’s Qatar Racing has garnered significant bloodstock holdings in Europe, America and Australia, with the jurisdictional focus of the entity changing over the years.
Australia, however, remains an important part of Qatar Racing’s modus operandi, with equity acquired in champion Australian sire-in-waiting Zoustar soon after he was sold to a partnership headed by Widden in the days leading up to his emphatic Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes victory in 2013.
Qatar Racing also holds equity in fellow Widden stallions Jacquinot and the recently retired Southport Tycoon while Sheikh Fahad sold a Group 1-winning Zoustar mare he part-owned, Climbing Star, for $2.1 million at last month’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.
It was at that same sale, and for the first time, where Wathnan Racing demonstrated its interest in Australian bloodstock even though the name didn’t end up on the buyers’ sheet.
With Tait stationed at one side of Magic Millions’ Bundall sales complex, and his phone in hand, he went toe-to-toe with Coolmore for three-time Group 1-winning mare Zougotcha.
Tait went to $5 million, but Coolmore’s Tom Magnier went another quarter, to $5.25 million, for the daughter of Zoustar, making her the second highest-priced mare ever sold in Australasia.
Asked about Wathnan Racing’s interest in the Australian industry, Tait was non-committal about establishing a possible southern hemisphere arm of the business and he also wasn’t drawn on missing out on Zougotcha.
“Look, I won't get into what we bid on and what we haven't bid on, but obviously, we're trying to buy horses that the Emir can enjoy and be proud of, and that's a competitive space, so you've got to be trying to buy good horses,” Tait said.
“So, that's an obvious thing to say, but that's what we're trying to do.”
Tait and the rest of the Wathnan Racing team have done a good job of meeting those expectations so far, with Hit Show winning the Dubai World Cup in April for US trainer Brad Cox, who also prepares horses for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin.
“I wouldn't want to speculate on what could happen in the future, but at the moment, we're taking it one step at a time,” says Tait when questioned about the Emir’s interest in the Australian racing industry.
“We've got a good number of horses in America as well. We had the Dubai World Cup winner this year, Hit Show … who is a horse that was bought in America.
“So, certainly, racing in Europe and America, and, of course, the Middle East, because we have racing in Qatar itself, but also the racing in Dubai and Saudi (Arabia) …
“We have an eye on the top races there for the Wathnan horses as well.”
Establishing a breeding operation is already under way, but whether it is a private operation or has a commercial element with young Wathnan-bred stock offered to the market is another decision yet to be made.
“We're buying fillies to race, so there's the opportunity there for them to become broodmares, and we've gone down that road, and in addition to that, we've bought a handful of mares that can, hopefully, be capable of producing top-class horses in the future,” Tait says.
