RIDE ON DUBAI MILLENNIUM
In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed recalls his favourite horse and how it broke his heart to watch him suffer three surgeries
Ever since he was young, Yaazer seemed larger than life. We called him Yaazer when he was young and then changed his name to Dubai Millennium. When he was two years old, I sent him to Newmarket in the UK to test him at the races on grass tracks.
Dubai Millennium was a horse who liked to win, but he wanted to do so on his own terms. After having toured the racetracks of Europe, I decided to enter him in one of the world’s biggest races, the 2000 Dubai World Cup.
I saw he was acting as if the track was a playground and began to wonder what a take-off at top speed would mean for this race. As it continued, I asked myself: ‘What is he doing? Why is Frankie riding the horse at such a speed?’
Surely Millennium could not continue the race like that. The other horses were bound to catch up with him when he is tired.
My brother Sheikh Maktoum’s consultants were screaming: “This stupid jockey will make us lose the race.”
Sheikh Maktoum heard these com- ments, turned to glance at me, then went on watching the show. Like me, he was a firm believer in my horse’s abilities.
Millennium continued to run at full pace. He had broken the track record.
Fate dictates that a champion cannot remain a champion forever.
The laws of nature say that what goes up must come down. Yet Millennium refused to go down like all the others.
On April 22, 2001, Millennium fell ill. On the following day, he had surgery for severe stomach pains, which led to complications. On April 24, he was diagnosed with severe grass sickness.
His health deteriorated even further and he had a third surgery on April 29.
Despite all the efforts we exerted with a team of the world’s leading veterinarians, it was obvious that there was going to be no happy outcome.
It was such a painful decision but the most important thing was to end his suffering. Following the third surgery, I gave the order to let him die in peace. Dubai Millennium never woke up from that procedure. In what he is calling his “incomplete biography”, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has broken his latest book, Qissati (My Story), into 50 chapters, narrating 50 stories in his 50 years of serving the nation. Khaleej Times got a signed copy of the book from the Dubai Ruler and everyday, we will be featuring excerpts from each of the 50 chapters.