The diary of the desert World Cup
Despite the ban on betting: Horses are supposed to secure Qatar’s power
By David Beürglich & Stephan Uersfeld, Doha
12/17/2022, 2:35 p.m
All other sports are suspended in Qatar during the World Cup. There is only one exception: equestrian sports. It keeps running. On a racetrack within sight of two stadiums, a lot of money is at stake on Friday. Qatar’s power strategy is also revealed here.
In the last corner, Sealine is still a long way behind the race. The spectators in the stands jump up, someone rips off his T-shirt, shouts, waves his arms, but everything is in vain. The spectator did not bet. Betting is not allowed here. He will have other reasons. With an irresistible sprint to the finish, Sealine, with Ronan Thomas in the saddle, swept past everyone to take the win by nearly a horse length. It is the fifth win for Thomas this evening.
Ronan Thomas falls off his horse.
(Photo: imago images/Shutterstock)
The Frenchman is also a name in Germany. In 2020 he won the Hamburg Derby with In Swoop. Then he falls off his horse at the award ceremony. A picture goes around the world. On this day he defeated the German wonder horse Torquator Tasso on In Swoop. The following year, Das will win the 100th Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and, with third place in 2022 and thus a total prize money of over 4.2 million euros, will become the most profitable German galloper of all time. Torquator Tasso will retire this winter. He becomes a breeding stallion.
There are no falls this Friday at the racetrack in Doha. Ronan Thomas is the dominator of race day. He is one of the European jockeys in Doha to choose the winter over the Qatar races over the few winter races in Europe.
The crazy parallel world of horse racing
The racecourse in western Doha is built in 2003. In nothing. Back then, almost 20 years ago, there was no skyline in Qatar, no World Cup stadiums, no gigantic glittering world. But for horses, the animals have tradition, the emirate is happy to invest – the Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC) is owned by the government, the sports minister is the boss. After the World Cup there should perhaps be a new track. There is enough space in Doha.
Horse racing offers a crazy parallel world all over the world. This applies all the more to Qatar. A two-storey grandstand offers special places for the owners of the animals on the lowest floor. Above that is a floor with premium boxes that are rented by wealthy Qataris. But if you want it really classy, you can go to the second floor, to the VIP boxes or even to the royal box.
Expert talks in Doha.
(Photo: Stephan Uersfeld)
It’s a different world up there, even by Qatari standards. In the oil paintings, the Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and his ex-Emir father, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, look out into the nobly furnished, lascivious rooms in the desert, accompanied by wild horses. Red leather sofas and fine armchairs upholstered in blue fabric. Dates are out. A “Dr Scent” device sprays the scent of roses. Breeze of Joy is written on the small machine. Subordinate waiters serve freshly squeezed orange juice, the champagne of the alcohol-free countries, and gold-plated éclairs.
The founder of the state loved horses
Flowers in the national colors of the country decorate the VIP tiers in boxes and the whole area in flower beds. Inside, lush bouquets of red and white roses add even more pomp. An oversized trophy shrine awaits in the basement, right next to another Al-Thani with horse portrait.
The Khalifa Stadium sparkles in the background, where Germany experienced its Japan debacle at the World Cup and where the game for third place will be played on Saturday. Next to it is the 300 meter high tower The Torch, whose shape is intended to be reminiscent of the Olympic torch. But football doesn’t interest me on the racetrack. It’s a loud Friday evening, on Sunday Qatar celebrates its national holiday and so a cup with ten races, including the “Qatar National Day Trophy” and “The Late Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohammed Al Thani Trophy”, takes place early. He is one of the founders of the desert state and is said to have had 56 children in his lifetime from 1825 to 1913.
For the national holiday races, the prize money is higher than usual. It is up to 400,000 riyals per competition, about 108,000 euros. The parallel world is all the more astonishing that only about 60 spectators, all male, have gathered in the stands. A few migrant workers also ended up in the stands.
An odd family sits a little further down, chain-smoking. They look like racetrack visitors at a winter race in Dortmund-Wambel. The racehorse owners, also all male, and their male family members sit at small wooden tables, drinking tea and coffee and eating baked goods. The women had previously been dropped off around 300 meters away on the huge facility with the children doing show jumping, complete with a circus and a bouncy castle.
“Horses were our planes”
The lawn is lush green and deep. What care in the desert. Horse racing and show jumping are the only sports in Qatar that are allowed to continue during the World Cup. Even the traditional camel races are paused until the final weekend. “It complements what is happening at the World Championships. Many people come here during the breaks in the World Championships,” says Issa bin Mohammed al Mohannadi, QREC chairman, in an interview with ntv.de: “Equestrian sport is in rooted in our culture, it’s been around for hundreds of years. Camel racing has stopped, there’s now the Camel World Cup, but we haven’t taken a break at all.”
The Arabian horses are the great pride of the country. They are bred and raised at the nearby “Al Shaqab” equestrian center. “Al Shaqab” was founded in 1992 by then Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani on the site where state founder Jassim Bin Mohammed Al Thani is said to have defeated the Ottomans in a battle in 1893. The Arabs were a constant in the lives of the Al Thanis as they ventured out of the Arabian desert and made Qatar their home. The horse guard at the opening of the World Championships on November 18, 2022 is therefore not surprising. “Horses and camels have always been friends of the Arabs. Horses were, if you will, the airplanes of the old generations. They were the fastest means of transport.”
How Qatar is involved in equestrian sports
Ronan Thomas is meanwhile carrying his child in the direction of the award ceremony, on the way to the small podium next to the grandstand the spectators stand in line for the sports minister Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali, who will hand over the trophies. A small grape accompanies them. There is applause, hands are shaken. Thomas is happy, Sealine’s owner is happy. Everyone is happy in this small, familiar circle, which, and this is where Torquator Tasso, the winner of L’Arc in Paris, has long been distributing his funds in Europe.
“We sponsor L’Arc in France and Goodwood in the UK,” says al Mohannadi, QREC chairman, understating a bit. L’Arc is now called “Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe” and “Glorious Goodwood” a historic meeting in the UK is officially called “Qatar Goodwood Festival”. “That, and of course our races, are the top races in the world for me. They have a great history and a great name. It’s not just about the money for the owners, it’s also about the name, the prestige. These races you just want to win.” Suddenly equestrian sport is no longer that different from the World Championships.
After the interview, let’s go back to the noble toilets with marble floors and gold-plated taps. A migrant worker, presumably from a South Asian country, is waiting alone in the deserted little place. He barely greets you, eyes downcast. After a short walk to the toilet, he immediately wipes through the cabin. A parallel world crashes into the next. One rich, magnificent and privileged; the other sad, hopeless, miserable. The cleaner remains isolated on the toilet for the rest of the evening. Until he presumably drives back to the ghetto of the Industrial Area, where he lives in poverty, penned up like cattle with other migrant workers, seven of them in one room.