TALK about making an entrance. It was quite the arrival into British racing for owners Wathnan Racing at Royal Ascot last year when their first three runners in the jurisdiction yielded two winners at the Royal Meeting.

In capturing the Gold Cup with Courage Mon Ami and Queen’s Vase through Gregory, the operation - headed up by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani - made a real statement of being serious players in top-quality races on these shores.

Just 12 horses represented connections in Britain or Ireland last year. However, that didn’t stop them from having a host of big-race engagements through 2023, including with Isaac Shelby, runner-up in the French 2000 Guineas, Lennox Stakes and Prix Daniel Wildenstein, Listed Doncaster Stakes winner Ballymount Boy, Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sale Stakes scorer Native American at the Irish Champions Festival, Coronation Stakes and Falmouth Stakes second Remarquee and Mill Reef Stakes runner-up Mister Sketch.

It was also a signal of intent when it was announced last October that top jockey James Doyle was snapped up to be retained rider to these connections, as he departed Godolphin at the end of December.

The operation’s impact has continued to ramp up in this part of the world during a short window since.

Seemingly emboldened by their remarkable start at Royal Ascot, Wathnan again hit the headlines this week when it was revealed on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast that the Qatari connections had made no fewer than six new private acquisitions in the lead up to this month’s Royal Meeting.

Most noteworthy was the high-profile purchase of Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Haatem, now set to contest the Jersey Stakes, while it was certainly eyecatching to see Willie and Jackie Mullins do business with Wathnan to sell their hugely impressive Leopardstown maiden winner Lope De Lilas. She looked something a little special on that occasion.

Mullins link-up

A whole 21 years since Paddy Mullins won the Irish Oaks with the Frankie Dettori-ridden Vintage Tipple, could another Closutton-trained filly capture the penultimate Irish classic of the season at the Curragh? She looks immensely talented and is being targeted at the Juddmonte-backed prize on July 20th.

Many National Hunt trainers will surely be hoping Wathan’s ownership interests with Mullins remain purely limited to the flat - now that would be quite the combination in National Hunt racing…

Wathnan’s other recent recruits include last season’s Railway Stakes winner Shartash, who is as short as 7/1 for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes after back-to-back wins since joining Archie Watson, and once-raced maiden winner Shadow Army, quoted at 10/1 for the Norfolk Stakes.

There were already a slew of existing Wathnan hopes being readied for Ascot before their latest spending spree.

Gregory is installed as second favourite to Kyprios in the Gold Cup market, Rogue Lightning is among the top four in the betting for the King Charles III Stakes (formerly the King’s Stand) at no bigger than 10/1, impressive debut winner Aesterius is the same price for the Norfolk Stakes and Leovanni jumped into 7/1 for the Queen Mary after a smart first-time-out success at Nottingham on Wednesday.

With a bundle of other handicap and two-year-old candidates waiting in the wings for the meeting, it’s shaping up as though Wathnan will hit Royal Ascot with real quality and quantity later this month.

Powerhouse numbers

In fact, a year on from their British racing debut, the Qatari team is expected to have upwards of 20 runners at the world-famous fixture in 2024. To put that into context, the Coolmore partners were involved in 30 runners at last year’s meeting, while Godolphin had 26. This is a challenge that needs to be taken very seriously from major spenders.

For good measure, Wathnan’s five two-year-old winners in the last fortnight were sourced for a combined total of £1.26 million at this year’s Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale. Resources are certainly there.

With a rapidly growing presence at major meetings, and connections well able to spend considerable sums, the big question now is just how large Wathnan could grow in the coming seasons?

The operation’s bloodstock agent Richard Brown didn’t expand too deeply on this topic when pressed by Nick Luck earlier in the week, but the impression remains that there is clear potential for further expansion in the Wathnan colours.

“The end game is very simple. The brief with Olly [Tait, Wathnan advisor] was to produce a team of horses that the Emir can be proud of and enjoy,” said Brown.

“There isn’t a brief on numbers. It’s just to produce that team.”

On whether there could be plans to build a racing and breeding empire that makes greater commercial sense for Wathnan going forward than the current buying of horses in training from other outfits, Brown added: “The honest answer is that I don’t know. Olly is coming up to Ascot and staying on for a week after when there plans for a number of strategy meetings.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to answer more questions after that, and after Olly has gone to Qatar and spoken to the team there.”

Boutique approach

With less than a dozen British-trained horses representing them last year - a superb 55% of which achieved triple-figure Racing Post Ratings - Wathnan was very much boutique in nature. So far in 2024, more than double that number have represented the same connections in Britain.

The intention of Wathnan’s backers will determine the scale at which the ownership vehicle grows, though we have seen other prominent outfits revert back to smaller numbers after ramping up in size.

In National Hunt racing, many have pointed to Cheveley Park Stud’s select approach as being particularly effective, with just 13 jumps horses representing them last term and eight a season earlier.

We have also seen Gigginstown House Stud restructure significantly. From expanding to have 226 individual horses represent them in the 2018/’19 season in Ireland, they had 68 different runners fly the maroon and white flag last term.

To a lesser extent, Susannah and Rich Ricci had 44 individual horses run in Ireland during 2017/’18, and that figure came down to 24 last season.

All three of the aforementioned jumps operations continue to have success at the highest level.

On the flat, Safecracker was Godolphin’s only Irish-trained horse last year, down from a total of 71 in 2017, while Qatar Racing owned or part-owned just six runners who were trained in Ireland last year (compared to 38 in 2016). There has been growth in the US for the latter in recent years.

Wathnan are certainly letting their spending and results do the talking for them in terms of their apparent ambition to play a significant role in the sport. They do not look to be going anywhere any time soon.

If two winners from select purchases at last year’s Royal Meeting helped drive on the type of spending spree we saw in the past week, who knows what a big Royal Ascot 2024 could do for their long-term prospects in the game. Watch this space.