Charlie Fellowes On Two Powerful New Horses Making Their Meydan Debut, Prince Of Arran and His Owners

Q: Please tell me about your plans for Dubious Affair and Ejtilaab? 

A: They are both ran on January 28.  

Ejthilaab ran fifth in the Dubai Sprint (L), losing to Man Of Promise by just five lengths while Dubious Affair finished sixth behind Siskany in the Al Khail Trophy (L). We are still discussing with the owners but they could both stay out in Dubai until world cup night, with Dubious Affair running in the Gold Cup.  

Dubious Affair has been covered and maybe in foal but that is not yet been confirmed. I have always wanted to run her in the UAE Gold Cup because I believe that she will have no problems with the 2000m distance.  

Ejtilaab will head to the Gr.3 Nad al Sheba Turf Sprint on Super Saturday and if he is good enough he will race in the Al Quoz sprint. And if not, he will come back here and will be aimed at all the nice Sprints back here in England. 

Q: What are your travel plans?  

A: I'm going to come out for the races at the end of January because obviously, they're both running on the same day. It's a beautiful track. So, I have no doubt that both horses will love the track. 

Q: Please tell us about the owners of this business. 

A: Interestingly, both horses were trained by other people before they came to me. Dubious Affair was trained by Michael Stoute. She had been very frustrating. So, Michael said that he didn't want to carry on with her. As I did very well with Prince of Arran. Muhammad Obaida’s son Salem rang me and asked whether I would like to give her a go. At that point, she was only rated 70 odd. But she just improved and improved and improved. She was very, very unlucky at Royal Ascot last year. She should have won the handicap there. She just got squeezed out at the wrong time.  

The owner decided to move all of his horses to our stable. When they arrived in my yard, Ejtilaab took the change of trainer badly. He lost all his condition. He looked really poor. He was the favourite for the Stewards' Cup. I had said to the owner beforehand, this horse looks poor. I don't think he's going to run very well. And sure enough, he didn't do well at all. Later we gave him a really nice holiday and he has come looking and feeling much better. He looks like a picture and he's training great. It's like he is a different horse. 

Q: Could you tell us more about your relationship with HH Sheikh Ahmed?  

A: Sheikh Ahmed has sent me 3 yearlings, adding me to his roster of European trainers, which is a real honour. 

None of Sheikh Ahmed’s horses will be coming to Dubai. I have three 2YO colts who are not even racing yet. Hopefully, they will be good enough to come to Dubai next year 

Q: And have you got any new favorites that have come into the stable? 

A: I ran a horse a couple of days ago that I really, really like. He's called Diavolo. He was with Roger Varian. And he moved to me about a couple of months ago. And his work has been really, really good. I think he just needed a tweak on the distance he was running over. Roger had been running him over 10 furlongs, and I think he's too quick for that. So, we ran him over seven furlongs and he won. He won nicely. So, I think he could be a very good horse coming forward. 

Q: And how is Meydan’s crowd favourite, Prince of Arran doing?  

A: He is great. I saw him over Christmas because he's at home with my family. He is doing lots of dressage and a lot of show jumping. The plan is to compete with him further down the line when he's ready, but he's really enjoying it. He looks fantastic. He's taken to it very quickly. And we are very happy that he is doing great.