Godolphin

Saeed bin Suroor

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Saeed pictured on Newmarket Heath

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Saeed pictured with Mastery, Godolphin's 200th winner of 2010, after winning the G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase

©Monica Pinheiro

Saeed overseeing the daily work at Al Quoz Stables in Dubai

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Name: Saeed bin Suroor
Job Title: Trainer

Saeed bin Suroor is Godolphin’s longest-serving trainer, overseeing the preparation of horses on a daily basis since 1995.

Born in Dubai on November 16, 1968, he was brought up with horses and enjoyed riding and working with them from an early age.

He was a police officer in the emirate but horses occupied most of his leisure time and he started training a few before coming to the attention of Godolphin’s founder, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who sent him 30 horses in 1992.

Those horses did well and what followed was a life-changing offer of a job that has resulted in his current status as one of the most recognisable and important people in the world of horseracing.

Saeed bin Suroor was appointed as Godolphin trainer ahead of the 1995 season and quickly made his mark, collecting the first of four British trainers’ championships the next year, before following up in 1998, 1999 and 2004.

He has also enabled Godolphin to take the accolade of top owner in Britain on seven occasions - 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006 & 2007 - and top owner in the Republic of Ireland twice -1994 and 1998.

Saeed bin Suroor enjoyed a phenomenal first season with Godolphin as he trained the unbeaten Lammtarra to win Europe’s top three races - the 1995 Derby at Epsom Downs, Ascot’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, France.

Lammtarra was expertly nursed back to health from a bout of colic to win the Derby on his seasonal debut and Saeed bin Suroor oversaw the colt’s remarkable campaign of success.

That debut year brought further British Classic triumphs for Saeed bin Suroor, thanks to the exploits of Moonshell (Oaks) and Classic Cliche (St Leger). He has saddled 12 British Classic winners so far.

The Godolphin trainer, aided by excellent staff, has a tremendous record in major races and Cape Verdi’s 1,000 Guineas win at Newmarket in 1998 completed the full set of British Classics.

Godolphin has enjoyed numerous big-race wins worldwide and Saeed bin Suroor saddled the stable’s 100th Grade/Group One winner - achieved with Sulamani’s victory in the Arlington Million in 2003.

Saeed celebrated another century at the 2008 Royal Ascot meeting when Campanologist secured Godolphin’s 100th Group/Grade Two success by winning the King Edward VII Stakes under Frankie Dettori.

He has trained five winners of the world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup, with the first being Almutawakel in 1999.

The brilliant Dubai Millennium, the best horse Saeed bin Suroor and Godolphin have had, scored a scintillating victory in the 2000 renewal, while Street Cry (2002), Moon Ballad (2003) and Electrocutionist (2006) complete the quintet.

He has also enjoyed success at America’s premier meeting, the Breeders’ Cup, having saddled Daylami (1999) and Fantastic Light (2001) to famous triumphs in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Vale Of York in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (2009), while France’s premier race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, has fallen to Sakhee (2001) and Marienbard (2002) as well as Lammtarra.

In October, 2008, the trainer broke new ground with Godolphin’s first Group One winner in Australia when All The Good won the Caulfield Cup, while an initial Turkish success came the following year when Balius won the Anatolia Trophy at Veliefendi.

In 2009, Saeed bin Suroor sent out Khor Dubai to become the international stable’s 200th worldwide winner of the campaign on November 18.

Schiaparelli’s triumph in the Group Two Darley Prix Kergorlay at Deauville, France in August, 2009, saw Godolphin reach yet another notable landmark of 500 Group/Grade and Listed race victories since the stable’s inception.

The record 2009 haul of 202 wins included a further English Classic triumph for the trainer with Mastery in the St Leger.

Saeed bin Suroor was responsible for Godolphin’s first success at the fantastic Meydan Racecourse in Dubai when Whispering Gallery achieved a facile victory on the first day of the Dubai International Racing Carnival on January 28, 2010.

He won the Carnival’s leading trainer award for 24 Godolphin successes and also ended the year strongly, thanks to Mastery achieving the 12th Group/Grade One victory of 2010 when winning the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase decisively at Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on December 12. Mastery’s win was also Godolphin’s 200th success of the year.

Saeed bin Suroor saddled Godolphin’s 1,000th British winner when Khawlah landed a maiden at Newmarket on September 17, 2010, and the filly gave him a Classic double in Dubai early in 2011. After notching the trainer’s seventh UAE Oaks victory, Khawlah then defeated the colts on Dubai World Cup day to provide Saeed bin Suroor and Godolphin with a seventh UAE Derby success.

All in all, the 2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival at Meydan proved very fruitful for Saeed bin Suroor. In January, Lost In The Moment gave the trainer his 100th overall winner at the Carnival since its inception, when successful in the Aquarius Trophy Handicap. His first Dubai International Racing Carnival victory came through Catstar in the UAE 1,000 Guineas on February 7, 2004.

He gained the title of leading trainer at the Dubai International Racing Carnival for the fourth successive year in 2011, with 16 victories. His third winner on the final evening of the 2011 Carnival - Honour System in the Dubai Duty Free Double Millionaire Handicap on March 10 - clinched this trainers’ championship.

As well as Khawlah’s UAE Derby success on the 2011 Dubai World Cup card, the trainer was also on the mark with Skysurfers in the Godolphin Mile.

Saeed bin Suroor had a year to remember in the United States in 2009 with nine Grade One victories. Flashing gained Grade One wins in the Test Stakes at Saratoga and the Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct. Music Note also recorded a pair of victories at the highest level, powering to comfortable successes in both the Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga and the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park, while Seventh Street gamely triumphed in the Grade One Go For Wand Handicap at Saratoga.

A fruitful Saratoga meeting saw Pyro take the Grade One Forego Stakes, while Gayego stormed to an easy success in the six-furlong Grade One Ancient Title Stakes on Pro-Ride at Santa Anita and Vineyard Haven produced a powerful late run to take the Grade One Frank J De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes at Laurel Park.

These American victories, together with Vale Of York’s Breeders’ Cup success, saw Godolphin win the Eclipse Award for champion owner that year.

The trainer shows his dedication by getting up at 4am every day so as to be with his horses from an early hour and he usually works a seven-day week.

Saeed bin Suroor trains from his home base of Al Quoz Stables in Dubai from November to April, while he oversees Godolphin Stables in Newmarket, England, during the rest of the year.

Godolphin is very internationally-minded and the trainer has been responsible for horses running at 99 courses in 16 countries, bringing over 1,400 winners in total including 166 at Group/Grade One level.

• To view Saeed bin Suroor's Photo Gallery, please click here.
• To view Saeed bin Suroor's race statistics, please click here.
• For Godolphin’s overall statistics, please click here.