Six-time UAE champion trainer Doug Watson has been stationed in the UAE for more than 27 years, the last 16 of them as a trainer in his own right after a long spell as assistant to Kiaran McLaughlin at Red Stables in the centre of Dubai.
The 55-year-old American, who moved to the UAE from Chicago, has trained more than 600 winners during his UAE career and has hit the ground running in the 2020-21 season, leading the trainers’ table with 15 winners already (as at December 28) from only a handful of meetings.
Although he has yet to taste G1 success with a Thoroughbred, he has recorded a couple of top-level wins with Purebred Arabians and has a multitude of lower-grade successes to his name, among them two in the $1 million G2 Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup card.
On November 7, 2019, he became the first trainer to go through the card at Dubai Carnival home Meydan with a six-timer.
Who do you think is the most important figure in the history of racing around the world?
I’m not just saying this because I am based in Dubai, but it would have to be the Maktoum family in general, including Sheikh Mohammed, Sheikh Hamdan and the entire Godolphin operation. The amount of people they employ around the world and the number of good horses they have had over the years show just how much influence they have had on the game. Their impact on racing in Europe, Australia and America has been huge.
What is your favourite racing venue and race (anywhere in the world)?
I am going to have to give you two answers to that question. Obviously Dubai is one of them as this is where my career really started. I was working in the States before that at smaller tracks, and Keeneland was my favourite track to work at over there. Meydan and the Dubai World Cup are extremely important to me personally now but the race I grew up with was the Kentucky Derby. I have only been once, but it was one of the most fantastic experiences I have ever had. The atmosphere of that day is just incredible, and I have yet to find any other meeting to match it.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
For me as a trainer, my favourite memory in racing was our 1-2-3 finish in the Godolphin Mile in 2016 (see video below). One Man Band was my first winner on World Cup Night. I think someone pointed out that night that we were something like 0-57 with our runners at that meeting at the time.
To finish 1-2-3 was pretty exciting for all my team. I can appreciate more now what a huge achievement it actually was. Somebody asked me recently about having six wins on one card, and that was of course special too, but being able to compete at the top level was something else. My old boss and mentor Kiaran McLaughlin had a runner in the race too and it was great to have him come up to me straight away afterwards and congratulate me. My Dad was here to witness it too, so the whole night was fantastic, one to remember.
What is the biggest challenge that racing faces today?
In America, it would have to be medication. There is no doubt about that. They can say there are problems or differences in track surfaces, but [the biggest] is simply the medication rules.
Being over here for 27 years and not being able to run horses on medication has taught me that you can win races without it. The rash of breakdowns in Santa Anita gave the sport a bad name in the States and I think they need uniform medication rules that benefit the horses more than the trainers and owners. Hopefully they will be forthcoming now because of the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act.
Horses are the most important part of our game. Owners obviously are too - in order to have the horses to train - but a win-at-all-costs attitude is not a good situation for the sport.
In Europe, England in particular, the prize money is a serious problem. The bookmakers take all the prize money and it is very difficult for small owners to make any money out of racing and to stay competitive in the game.
So much revolves around the betting over there. That is one of the nice parts of being in Dubai; the prize money is good, but people can still bet in Europe if they want to. The higher the purse is the less chance of people setting up horses, so it makes it a cleaner sport for everyone.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
I would love to find a way to get more owners involved and to get more spectators back in the gates of racecourses. The prize money and the medication problems in America keep that from happening. We need to increase the former so that smaller people can get involved in racing and then make enough to stay in it. The medication rules need to be uniform across the country to help racing’s image and stop giving the sport a bad name.