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| Staff Writer |
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With each passing year, the international flavour of the Dubai racing scene is growing. Meydan has long been the home of top-class racing and has attracted the very best trainers from the UK, Ireland, America, Australia, France, Italy and Japan. Now, within this prestigious field, Niels Peterson looks to make his mark and represent the Norwegian racing scene.
Ever since he acquired his license in 1998, Petersen, a veteran of the Scandinavian racing scene, has become one of the region’s most legendary trainers. Norway’s Champion Trainer on no fewer than 11 occasions, nobody has won the Oslo Cup, Norway’s biggest horse race, more often than Petersen.
Having enjoyed success in Dubai in the past, Petersen is looking for his most successful season in the Middle East, and this will be the first year that Petersen will send his horses into action as a locally licensed trainer.
As Peterson looks to take both him and Scandinavian racing to the next level, we were able to sit down and get his thoughts about moving to Dubai and his hopes for the new season.
It is a sign of how Niels Petersen wants to test himself against the best that this will be his first season where he will be a locally licensed trainer in Meydan. Hoping that his move to Dubai for the next few months will enable better training, better preparation, and an escape from the harsh Norwegian winter, Petersen is fully aware of the challenge that lies ahead. As he explains,
“Moving to Dubai is a whole different challenge and scene, but I’m looking forward to it. I always thought that we could have horses that could be competitive enough to win good races in Dubai, but we always come with horses out of form, and it’s always a bit of a rush. Moving should give us a different chance; the horses will not go through two months of cold and bad weather and should have perfect training. I’m hopeful that we will bring horses to the races in much better shape.”
Headlining Petersen’s talented stable is the hugely exciting Warsocks. A horse with an excellent pedigree, he was purchased from the prestigious Irish Tattersalls sales for €115,000 in 2023, with the sole hope that he would make his debut and hopefully win big races in Dubai.
“We kept Warsocks unraced as we wanted to try and find him an easier route. It was always the plan to race him in Dubai. He is a very fast horse, so we thought targeting a Maiden race in Dubai would be a good strategy,” stated Petersen.
Although Warsocks might be the headline name in the Petersen yard, there are plenty of other talented horses that Petersen hopes will make a splash.
“We are also planning on bringing eight or nine 2YOs. Four of them are unraced, but we feel some of them are some of the best young horses in Scandinavia. We are also bringing seven or eight older horses, which includes Chianti. We will also bring several horses for handicaps who we plan to race locally.”
Although many of his Dubai string will be making their first appearances on the track later this year, Petersen explains his method for why he has kept them off the track.
“We will be bringing horses who haven’t had to go through 20 winters or overcome half a metre of snow yet. We will get away before that comes and I hope it will have a positive impact. We have also tried to keep all our horses fresh. We left them out of some races back home and have eased their training to keep them fresh. It also keeps their ratings low. Often our horses arrive with the maximum ratings, making it hard.
By doing it this way, our horses should be much better suited to the local programme that Meydan runs.”
Petersen is very much flying the flag for Scandinavia, and the majority of the owners of his horses hail from the Scandinavian region. While Petersen is keeping his expectations in check due to the newness of his operation, he knows that he could be in the process of building something special and early success could help bring new owners and investors on board.
“We are going down there with an open mind. First, we need to get the setup to work, and then, hopefully, we will have some good results and leave our mark. You never know who you will meet, but we will see what comes out of it.”
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With his legacy and reputation as one of Scandinavia’s and Norway’s greatest trainers firmly intact, a move down to Dubai has been on the cards for a while. Petersen has tried to strengthen his stables, and he has been able to do so with a move to the Middle East in mind. Set to base himself out of the spacious and luxurious Blue Stables, Petersen and his stable of horses should have everything they need for success.
“It was in the back of our heads when we were buying yearlings last year that we would need to buy horses that could run well in Dubai. We have a nice 2YO filly with the pedigree and scope to be suited for Dubai. The Blue Stables, where we will be based, are nice. They have nice big barns, and there is a lot of space. It’s great that the owners can stay nearby in the hotel at Meydan and see the horses. It will be nice for them to get some winter sun!”
One of the reasons why trainers such as Petersen view a move to Dubai as a viable option is because the racing scene back home in Scandinavia is becoming challenging as he explains.
“There has been a lot of change in Scandinavian racing recently; the horses brought to come here are better and more expensive, but the number of horses in training has gone down. The quality of the best horses is very high in comparison to the quality of racing. However, when we buy, we like to think that they could have a successful career in Scandinavia and hopefully be good enough to win races in Dubai.
Through the years, a lot of Scandinavian-trained horses have done well in Dubai. They might not be the most prolific winners, but they have won some big races. It’s hard to bring horses down in peak condition, but overall, Scandinavian trainers have done well. Getting my local licence will allow us to do things in a slightly different way, and we will see if we can improve things.”
With Petersen trying to make his newly formed operation a success, there are huge hopes that he can show that countries that experience harsh winters can still compete alongside horses who typically arrive in the region much better conditioned.
Trainers like Petersen are pioneering how trainers and owners view the racing scene in the Middle East. Believing that they have horses capable of throwing it up to the traditional racing powerhouses, over the years, we have seen horses and trainers from Poland, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan all make an impact across the region setting the path for others to follow.
As Petersen himself alludes to, success for Scandinavian trainers and owners in Dubai isn’t something new, but in order to win and compete, all of the variables have to be right. Petersen’s plan to base himself in Dubai and arrive with a crop of talented and hungry horses seems to have all the ingredients for success.
While, without a doubt, an element of luck is needed to come out on top, Petersen’s detailed and methodical planning could yield some serious results. Hoping to position Norway and Scandinavia as a quality racing hub, Petersen’s decision to move to Dubai could offer up the blueprint for success for many others.