Mike Cattermole column: Wesley Ward can take Royal Ascot by storm

Qatar's isolation may have implications

In a very short space of time, Qatar and the country’s private business and enterprise venture, QIPCO, have made a huge impression on British horse racing and indeed the whole of the European bloodstock industry.

The Qataris arrived here and aimed straight for the top, as sponsorship of Newmarket’s Guineas Festival, Ascot and the Champions Series (all QIPCO), Goodwood and the Arc meeting (both of those by the state of Qatar itself) have demonstrated.

Their enthusiasm for our sport has been almost universally welcomed. But there are now big problems on the home front after it emerged last week that several of the peninsular’s close neighbours, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among them, have severed all diplomatic and transport ties. This was prompted by accusations of Qatar’s funding of extremist Islamic terrorists. 

We don't know whether this has any substance or not, but it's an alarming story and I am sure it will not sit easily with those that are in business with Qatar.

In recent years, Qatar has been heavily criticised by Amnesty International over human rights abuse of migrant workers, mainly from South Asia, who are there to build stadiums and other infrastructure for the already controversial World Cup of 2022. 

Amnesty’s 80-page report in 2016 about the exploitation (“The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game”) is a distressing read – and you won’t be surprised to hear that it reflects poorly on FIFA too.

This publication, along with reports of over 1,000 migrant workers a year dying, might have caused some of the biggest World Cup sponsors, for example Coca Cola and Adidas, to do more than just express “concerns”. However, there is not a hint of any withdrawal in protest.

But that story is just a sub-plot in Qatar’s history. Cutting off a country because of a furious row over terrorists is something else and you can’t help but wonder if, as things stand, it will have an impact on the various Qatar-sponsored racing festivals.

Will Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE don’t forget, instruct the Godolphin team to boycott the Qatar Goodwood Festival? Imagine the Qatar Sussex Stakes without the likes of Ribchester, or Barney Roy et al.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khalid Abdullah is not as politically active as Sheikh Mohammed but he may also feel duty bound to take action unless things take a turn for the better.

It could be an interesting summer.

Just Marion - so sad

The circumstances of Just Marion’s death at Brighton on Monday, after running loose with a blindfold on her, should never allowed to be repeated.

That the five-year-old mare should have to be put down after injuring herself so badly was a terrible thing and her owner Trish Marks and her trainer Clare Ellam must be devastated.

It is amazing that not more horses fatally injure themselves in this fashion. Trainer Mark Johnston has been quick to suggest using the system he has adopted at his Kingsley House yard where a Velcro strap is attached to the wrist of the jockey so that the blindfold is pulled off if the jockey gets unseated.

In the stalls, the jockey simply transfers the strap to another Velcro strip on the stalls’ infrastructure.

Easily enough implemented you might think, but it was depressing to hear that Johnston had apparently got short shrift from both the BHA and PJA when he suggested this before.

The other thing that might help is the introduction of a ridden “round-up horse” whose job it is to help deal with loose horses or helping horses to pull up. This of course already happens in the States as well as in Australia and New Zealand where the riders are known, confusingly, as “clerks of the course”.

It would also offer an outlet to former racehorses who could be retrained.

Edward Lewis due some luck

It is a pretty quiet weekend with Royal Ascot just around the corner but the William Hill Scottish Sprint Cup at Musselburgh gives us a chance of swelling the coffers a bit before next week’s fun.

Edward Lewis was so unlucky when fifth to Caspian Prince in the Investec Dash at Epsom that he must surely be backed to gain compensation in this. 

Denied a clear run from the two-furlong marker until inside the last, as Josh Doyle sat and waited in 12th place, he flew home to be beaten only a length. 

Judge for yourself and watch the replay here...

Anyway, I am on and hope that David O’Meara’s improving sprinter gets the gaps when he needs them.

Wesley Ward is back!

Royal Ascot wouldn’t be the same without Wesley Ward and his team of turbo-charged speedsters, especially those muscle-bound two-year-olds.

Ward, who became the first American trainer to win a race at the Royal meeting when Strike The Tiger struck in the 2009 Windsor Castle Stakes  - at 33/1, we haven’t made that mistake again - has since added another Windsor Castle, three Queen Mary Stakes, a Norfolk Stakes and a Diamond Jubilee to his CV.

You just have to admire Ward for finding and preparing the right ammunition, year on year.

Nobody who was there will ever forget Lady Aurelia’s stunning demolition job in last year’s Queen Mary and the flying filly is back to tackle the King’s Stand Stakes.

She and eight other members of his team exercised at Ascot itself on Wednesday morning and when speaking to Ward afterwards on At The Races it seemed he was most impressed with the way Happy Like A Fool went. She goes in the Queen Mary.

Watch out! 

Nadal is also back - to his best!

Watching Rafa Nadal demolish Stan Wawrinka in the French Open Final was like watching a top sportsman turning back the clock.

Nadal was magnificent, incredibly powerful and moving so easily and athletically as he put the hapless Swiss to the sword. When you consider how many physical problems the Majorcan has had over the years, his return to form this year has been almost surreal.

Nadal’s 10th French Open title – “La Decima” – was his 15th Grand Slam in all and he sits just three behind his great rival Roger Federer who is almost five years his senior.

Their Australian Open Final duel in January, in which Federer prevailed, was extraordinary and could have gone either way. If Nadal had edged it, their Grand Slam rivalry would be down to just one.

I have long admired the sheer artistry and elegance of Federer who plays a simply beautiful game as he waves his racquet around like a magic wand.

With Nadal, it is muscle-bound battering ram stuff. So different, and yet just as effective. In head-to-heads, Nadal actually leads Federer 23-14 with the Swiss winning the last four. So although Federer is often regarded as the greatest of all time (GOAT), Nadal fans could argue the contrary.

Federer missed Roland Garros to rest and concentrate on Wimbledon for which he is 5-2 second favourite with SkyBet behind Andy Murray on 9-4.

However, the 11-2 SkyBet offer about Nadal, who looks back to his very best, is very tempting.