Taleb Remembers….
By Denise Hearst
A couple of years ago I was sitting in the grandstand at the Doha, Qatar racetrack, chatting with retired racehorse trainer, jockey, and famous show jumper Taleb Al Saaq, about the great Arabian horses he had trained or ridden in his career.
Taleb in his majlis, where trophies, framed photos, and newspaper clippings tell the story of his gifts and love for horses.
He said, “I am here with the horses since 1976 when I was 13 years old – twenty years of riding. I grew up here. Some people say the stable was my second house. I say ‘No! It’s my first house!’
“I always tell people, ‘If you have kids you have to take them to the horses. When the kid rides the horse, he thinks he can rule the world. Riding builds character. We are a horse family – all of them are with the horses.
“I remember all those years of race training…when I would drive to the equestrian club, turn headlights off at 3:30 a.m. and gallop until daylight. The horse is the best animal. They are close to man, to the people. They try to give everything. I don’t like people who hurt the horse, hit the horse. I become crazy when I see this. I like to stay close to my horses, smell the horse, feel them. Once we went on a family vacation for one month. When we got home I went straight to the stable and smelled the horses, the shavings, the feed, everything! It was like my drug.”
I am crying now because I remember that minute, that second…and what that horse gave me from his heart.
Taleb told me about the time that his boss, HH Sheikh Mohammed of Al Shahania Stud, asked him which horse he wanted to ride in the 1993 HH Amir Sword race. “Sheikh said to me, ‘OK, which horse will it be? This one or that one?’
“I said, ‘No, this one.’ I believed in WF High Voltage (*Wiking x Dunasabellina by *Dunajec) even though he had a bad work the day before. I knew it was because he did not like the sand; he liked the grass. After five days, we came here onto this track and he beat that other horse by 10 lengths. I sent him wire to wire, 2,000 meters. When he came to the turn here, he said, ‘Talk to me, push me!’ I shouted to him, ‘OK boy, come on boy.’ When I asked him to go he took his tongue out, and put his ears flat back and he flew. FLEW! I remember this, it looks like now, like this second. I am crying now because I remember that minute, that second…and what that horse gave me from his heart. I was glowing when I saw him like this.
“OK boy, come on boy.”
“I had a very good time with the horses in my life. My God, a dream with the horses. I don’t think of horses as a business like many people do. I spend money on the horses and I don’t expect anything from them. But always they give. They gave me a very good life.
“The horses live in my blood. In my heart. It’s like my heart is part of the horse’s heart. The two hearts are one heart between me and the horses. So I give them everything. My time…40 years with the horses. It’s not easy, huh?
“You know, I think that horse heard me when I said to Sheikh, ‘I want to ride THIS horse, not the other one.’
“The horse trusted me, so he gave it to me.”
The moment after WF High Voltage (*Wiking x Dunasabellina by *Dunajec) gave everything.
