You might remember that I mentioned His Excellency Mansoor Abulhoul, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the UK, a couple of weeks ago. I was so blown away by his assessment of horse racing in this country, and the potential it has to build lucrative and cultural relationships around the world, that I gallivanted up to London to drop in on him at the UAE embassy.
I was in bad shape. Prior to my visit, I had a gazillion red blood cells injected into a torn tendon in my elbow. OMG. I’ve never been stabbed but I think I now have a pretty good idea what it must feel like. The slightest movement was sending excruciating pains up my arm, causing me to screw my face up and make noises like ‘yaieeeee’. I fear I may have alarmed the ambassador as we chatted over coffee in a beautifully cool reception room. Big chairs, leather-bound works of British poets lining the walls.
The UAE ambassador learned to ride at the Dubai riding club when he was five, and horses got into his blood
His Excellency learned to ride at the Dubai riding club when he was five, and horses got into his blood. Horse racing is a worldwide community that always welcomes boyish enthusiasm. The young Mansoor Abulhoul ended up doing a year of ‘hard yakka’ at a pre-training yard near Newmarket before spending a season with the genius but explosive trainer David Elsworth, who called him Victor for the duration of his apprenticeship. We can safely assume that the ambassador is a grafter who can take a rollicking. When he got back to Dubai he realised he didn’t have a proper plan to be a trainer, so he joined his family’s retail business.
