UAE veteran who is part of the fabric of Dubai racing talks to Laura King about his three decades in the Gulf state
UAE: All good things must come to end, in life and in racing – but it is with few regrets that longstanding Dubai-based trainer Erwan Charpy closes out his near 30-year career.
Charpy, 61, has been part of the fabric of racing in the UAE since before Meydan racecourse was even a glint in an architect’s eye. He started in the Gulf in October 1994, when Nad Al Sheba was just two years old and the facilities at nearby Sharjah were so primitive that the ruling Sheikh had to position his throne on a patch of sand.
But if Charpy is part of UAE racing history, he is also part of its future, having moved on from training to become an advisor to Dubai Racing Club. Few would bring more knowledge to the role, the Frenchman having trained 511 winners, including 11 at G1 level. They were all Purebred Arabians, a field in which Charpy has excelled, though he also has plenty of Group wins to his name with Thoroughbreds.
While he is stepping into his new assignment with plenty of enthusiasm, Charpy is also keen to reflect on a career which took him from his native France to England’s downs and even to the west coast of America.
A horseman right from the start, Charpy rode in pony races, show jumped and evented before taking up a job at Kingsclere, longtime home to the famous Balding family dynasty.
“I was training Mrs Balding’s three-day eventers and I gave riding lessons to Clare Balding – she even mentioned me in her book,” says Charpy, eager to reminisce while on holiday on the French coast.
Three years at Kingsclere
“I was there for three years – one as a pupil-assistant and two years as assistant,” he goes on. “We had Forest Flower who won the Guineas and Silver Fling, who was a very nice sprinter, although that was before Lochsong.”
A few years later, Charpy moved to America as an assistant to expat Brit Neil Drysdale in southern California; after that came a two-year spell training under his own name in Chantilly, before Dubai came calling.
“While I was in America, I was running a barn for Neil which had a lot of Gainsborough horses, so I got quite close with the Gainsborough team,” he explains. “We even had Rahy and I was in charge of him when he won a Grade 2 at Hollywood Park.
“Later on, I had a small stable [in Chantilly] and did OK, but it was right after the Gulf War so it was difficult to attract Arab owners. Michael Osborne [then chief executive of the Emirates Racing Association] gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in coming over.”
That was in October 1994, two years into the lifespan of formalized racing in Dubai – and Charpy was an instant success.
“I took over from an American trainer who had left around 30 horses but only 15 or 20 were trainable,” he recalls. “At that time the only other trainers were Satish [Seemar], Paddy Rudkin, Bill Mather and Dhruba [Selvaratnam].
“When I got to the stable all the horses had been sprinting, even ones who were staying types. I just put them at the right distance and everyone thought I was a genius, because I got so many winners out of a handful of horses! Then I started to win with Arabians.
“Kiaran McLaughlin said: ‘This new guy from France must know about Arabians,’ and told the owners to send them to me. I had quite a few nice ones and that was quite fun. We won the Triple Crown with a horse called Hafic du Bac – I think he’s the only horse to win it.”
Weighing-room who’s who
Based at the picturesque Green Stables, Charpy also welcomed a who’s who of the weighing room through the gates during his time in charge. “I was champion trainer in 2001 when Seb Sanders was my jockey and Pat Smullen was the number two,” he remembers.
“Wayne Smith was my third jockey and after that I had Keith Dalgleish. There was also Willie Supple, plus Dane O’Neill rode for me for a year before he went to Shadwell.
“The championship was great fun because we were head-to-head with Satish. The season ended a lot later back then, in late April, but all the big jockeys had gone back home. I got Anthony Delpech to come for a month and he won ten races for me, which is how we won the championship.”
There have been plenty of other highlights, not least when the South American star Furia Cruzada won the G2 Maktoum Challenge Round 2 in February 2017, teaming up with Zamaam to give their trainer a notable Dubai Carnival double. His final season, too, saw success in some of the UAE’s relatively few Pattern races.
“This year we were first and second in the Listed National Day Cup at Abu Dhabi with Moqtarreb and Spirit Of Light,” says Charpy, before delving back much further. “I had Kodiac for one carnival – he won one of four starts at Nad Al Sheba in 2006 – and a lot of nice winners for Sheikh Hamdan.”
At that time, racing in Dubai largely relied on the ruling family sending horses there from Godolphin, of which Charpy was a major beneficiary. That modus operandi also worked the other way, however, with the trainer acting as a rehab trainer for the superpower.
“They would send me horses they had a problem with,” he explains. “One was a really nice filly called Cocoa Beach who had come from South America. She came in April and I gave her back to them in January, just ready to run. She went on to win the UAE Oaks and two Grade 1s in America.
“That was nice, but when it stopped I didn’t have many private owners that I could rely on and that was a little bit difficult. But I enjoyed getting them in shape for Godolphin.”
Purebred passion
As well as this behind-the-scenes success, Charpy enjoyed plenty of big days with Purebred Arabians, none bigger than when Manark won the 2015 G1 Dubai Kahayla Classic – the Arabian-horse version of the Dubai World Cup. Nevertheless, it was the somewhat enigmatic Versac PY who scored higher in Charpy’s affections, mainly because of his celebrity connections.
“Versac PY was incredible because he won two Group 1s and was second in seven others,” he says. “He was just amazing, this old horse – I loved him, he was a character. He even got me a post on Kylie Minogue’s social media as she came to the stable before she played at Dubai World Cup!
“That was the same year Manark won and she posted to congratulate us, which made my kids mad as they said ‘you never do anything on social media and now you’re getting retweets from Britney Spears!’”
There might be fewer celebrity encounters in his new role, but Charpy is looking forward to helping to guide Dubai Racing Club through what is something of a transitional period. The new board, headed by Sheikh Rashid Dalmouk Al Maktoum, is in just its second year.
“I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to continue contributing to the future of Dubai racing,” he says. “But I can’t leave training without thanking all owners who entrusted me with their horses and contributed to the great success of Green Stables.”
With former assistant Ali Al Bedwawi now in charge, Green Stables’ success may well continue, but one thing’s for sure: for a while to come it will seem strange without Erwan Charpy at the helm.
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