Qatar’s Leading Trainer De Mieulle’s Vibrant And Unique Plan For Regional Success

French Beginnings

Having followed in his father’s footsteps the French trainer began with thoroughbreds in his native France only beginning with Arabians on his arrival in Qatar.

“I would say I was born with horses, it is in my blood. My father trained horses all of his life so I was meant to do this.

“I began in France working on the farm with my father. I would do my military service as required. After that, I began to train some horses for the small owner before moving to the west of France.

“I trained for a further nine years in France before moving to Qatar.

“I only ever had trained thoroughbreds, both jump and flat thoroughbreds.”

A Lifetime In Qatar

Taking over at the helm of Umm Qarn Racing de Mieulle would leave France to take up the new position in Qatar.

Although he had never trained Arabs before he was used to seeing them race, as they are commonly on the same card as thoroughbreds in his native France.

Before heading to Qatar de Mieulle had no knowledge about the geographic location of Qatar or who his new employer Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Thani was.

He would become the head trainer for Umm Qarn owned by the Sheikh who was the Gulf state’s former prime minister.

It is regarded as the heartbeat of many of the winners in the region with stallions at stud who include race champions in Amer, Nizam, Majd Al Arab, and General to name a few.

On arrival, de Mieulle started with his first horse, a colt by Tidjani, and out of Gosse de Bearn, named Sarki D’Espiens.

As the trainer tells it if not for that first performance is as great as it was the story could have been completely different.

“The morning before my first race, Sheikh Abdulla called me and asked me what I thought about this race. ‘I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘but if this horse does not win, I should get back on a plane.’ He replied, ‘okay’”.

The colt would win by a massive ten lengths, a memory that puts a great smile on the trainer’s face.

His time in Qatar has seen him achieve victories that he will remember including Umm Qarn’s victories during the 2013 Qatar International Race Days.

Over the three days of racing at the Qatar Equestrian Club in Doha, the team won 6 out of the 10 Arabian races.

On the last day of racing the training talents of de Mieulle were once again showcased winning the coveted Gr.1 HH The Emir’s Sword with Umm Qarn’s rising star, Tabarak, making it six in a row for the 5YO grey entire. 

The Horses That Did Him Proud

De Mieulle went on to detail horses that have been influential throughout his career, the one that brings him the most joy is a filly that brought him great success over a great career of her own.

“Al Dahma was a fantastic filly.  She won 28 races and 18 Group One races – I won everywhere with this filly Europe, Turkey, and Dubai.

“The story of this filly is a great one. She won six races before they found a small fracture in her bones. We were forced to stop her from racing for a year but she came back and won 20 races after that.”

The recalling of this filly’s story means a lot to de Mieulle not only because two of those wins were in back-to-back HH The Emirs Sword but because veterinarians had said that there was a high chance she would ever race again.

The Regional Campaign

The team has a troop of stablemates set for the Saudi and Dubai World Cup campaigns including eleven for the Dubai World Cup Carnival and four for Saudi.

However, de Mieulle is upfront in saying it all will come down to the performances put in at Qatar.

“Some of them may not get an invitation because of ratings so we will have to wait and see what they do in Qatar.

“For Saudi, I have two for the thoroughbred race and one in on the grass.”

For now, his hopes for Qatar are two runners in the Amir Trophy but he understands the level of the task at hand.

“It is going to be a tough race with a lot of horses coming in.”

For the Amir Sword, he prepares two of his Arabians to contest as he said including his star Abbes.

The Tm Fred Texas x Raqiyah 6YO is already a Group One winner having claimed the spoils in The UAE President Cup in Doncaster during the 2021 season.

“This horse has won some great races in Europe but unfortunately he does not like the soft ground. He is a good horse and now he has to prove that he can be one of the best.”

With years of experience with Arabians he like other Arabian trainers admits there are great differences between them and their thoroughbred opponents.

“For me, thoroughbreds are like a machine. When you teach them, you tell them what you want to give them and get out of them.

“I will say this Arabians are very intelligent but you have to respect them.

“You have to ask them and challenge them nicely.”

The stable currently boasts 65 horses which include a mix of both thoroughbreds and Arabians.  From the younger crop

“We have some very nice pure Arab horses in training but they are very new and it is far too easy for us to say.

“They are new to us so we need time to see what we will do with them in the future.

“We will probably send the three top horses to Europe to train maybe in Chantilly or something like that but not sure about that yet. We have to take everything step by step.

“If you have a chance to race a horse all over the world I would love to do that in some different places.

"It’s a new track and a new challenge so that’s always great also.”

The World Looks At The GCC

As the profile of money increases along with the prize money de Mieulle admits that it poses a great opportunity for trainers no matter where they are based.

“It is becoming a great challenge to be competitive in Saudi, Dubai, and the Middle East altogether. Qatar is starting to pick back up again also.”

Last year he trained First Class to win the $1 million Al Mneefah Cup after he had won the Qatar International Derby for four-year-olds two months prior.

A prime example of the Qatari-based trainer’s hunger to take his stable to the surrounding regions.

“I must admit it was a lot easier to win in Qatar 25 years ago than today, the challenge is very different now.”

“It is a great opportunity for any trainer, whether based in the Middle East or internationally such as Europe, to bring horses here to race.”

The Meaning Of Success

Throughout his career, he has learned a lot but the biggest lesson for de Mieulle begins at the base with the people around him.

“Success is easy when you have great horses, great owners, and most importantly a good team around you.

“In Qatar, we are very lucky to have a good team but it takes time to make a good team, it is not easy.

“You can have a good horse but don’t have a good team around you it will not matter what you have in your hand.”