Okbah Aashour Firmly Believes in, “Quality Over Quantity & Build As You Show Success.”

Okbah Aashour Couldn’t Have Asked For A Better Season

For Aashour, it’s not an impossible task. “I had this experience in the UK in 2014. I only had eight horses, and thankfully, I had eight winners. Each horse won for us that season.” he said.

“That is not easy to have eight horses and for all of them to be a winner. You can have two winners or three winners, (from eight horses) but to have eight winners, it's not easy believe me.”

Planning Ahead For The UAE Season With A Stable Of Ten Horses

“We are going to build it up ourselves step by step because the horses need staff. You can find people easily, but you cannot find the experience.

“When you have good staff then you can add more horses to your stable.

“To focus right now, we accept to have just ten horses this season and for next season, we have a better plan, a stronger plan.”

“I have two horses that are Thoroughbred and the rest of them are Arabian.

“One of the thoroughbreds is very good quality and he is doing better than last season. We sent him to Saudi Arabia and he did very well.

“But when he came back, he was in really bad condition, so he did not race very well here. This season after resting here he is back to doing his best. I think he will go back to being a Group or Listed race-winning horse.”

His stable has in the past included names such as Pharitz Al Denari, Major Cinnamon and Trancaferro and the horse he referred to as returning to form in African Power - who is one of two remaining racers from his stable this year.

“All the other horses currently in this stable are new – they just arrived this season.”

Aashour spoke positively about the high-quality horses that were recently sent to him to train.

“Our stable is now small because we don't have that quantity - we don't look for big quantity, so we try to find the quality always.

“That is why I'm very lucky to have horses bred by top owners in the region.”

Aashour’s Passion - A Family Affair

His love for horses and his desire to be a trainer began and grew as part of a family affair.

“We have had horses in our family since we were born and so we grew up with horses,” Ashour said.

“My brother was a jockey, and he was here working with the Millennium stable and now he is a trainer also. My uncle was with Millennium stable also and now he is training in Saudi Arabia.”

The UK-based stable, Pharitz, he runs as lead trainer in partnership with his wife.

“We are training Arabian horses there and we have done very well since 2011 until now.”

His focus in training begins when his runners are young and builds from there to ensure they can sustain success and racing careers long term.

“We always try to start very slowly with the babies to get them strong enough very carefully to do for us very well for a longer time.”

International Transport – A Daily Affair

Travelling and moving horses between countries and continents has been something the trainer has learned to make easier for everybody.

“I started to move our horses from place to place in 2011 shifting horses to run in Oman when I was in the Emirates.

“We went to Oman, and we won the biggest race there. After that in 2013 in Europe, we started to move horses from the UK - the first one was for the Gr.3 President’s Cup.

“After that I opened the gate to Europe and raced in Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, France, and Italy. We even ran third in a Group One in Turkey and placed fourth in Morocco.

“So, we are happy to move the horses from anywhere to anywhere for the nice races.”

Racing In The UAE

“We bought a horse at Arqana auction that nobody wanted and he became a Group One horse for me and now a breeding stallion.

“The horses are almost ready to race in UAE and we look forward to many successes this season.

“I had one horse who did not like racing in UAE and was rated only 45. I sent him back to UK and he became for us a 113-rated Group-winning horse. 

“UAE just does not suit some horses and likewise some horses do not like the turf in UK,” said the experienced trainer

Aashour has plans to begin racing on the Sharjah track before the year is out. “The horses are almost ready to race in UAE and we look forward to many successes this season. This season, just like any other trainer, we hope that we can win on Dubai World Cup night,” he said.

Making The Most Of The GCC Racing Season

With stables in the UK and the UAE, Okbah spoke highly of racing in the Middle East but said that no matter where he raced his starters the focus remained the same.

“As a horseman, there is not that big of a difference because it is still competition. And in competition nothing is different.

“Some things have to be taken care of like in the GCC like training early in the morning or late afternoons.

“Now we see races in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the rest of GCC. It is really nice if you have good horses, you can be busy all season,” he said.