From out of the darkness of a Nordic winter and into the light of Dubai come the Scandinavians and their team of horses.

They have been supporters of the Dubai Carnival for a number of years. It was Fredrik Reuterskiold who attempted it first in the 2005/6 season and Niels Petersen first brought horses here in the 2007/8 term.

Niels, a charming self-effacing man has been hugely successful in his native land. The four times champion Norwegian trainer runs his ever-expanding stable in Oslo at The Ovrevoll racetrack and a second stable is now based in Sweden. This is a forward thinking man who has fully embraced the opportunities that bringing a team of horses here open up for him.

The winters in Norway are tough for both humans and horses. With up to twenty hours of darkness a day leaving precious little chance of any ray’s of sunshine escaping from the sky to brighten up life. Temperatures are known to drop as low as minus twenty at times although ‘global warming’ may be having an affect on this.

Snow many feet deep is an obstacle to be contended with every day and the darkness that falls again before it’s had a chance to get light can be so oppressive to live with.

This doesn’t paint a pretty picture of my Mothers beloved country I know but it is a rugged tough place that breeds that toughness into its people.

I see that strength come through in my own daughter (Sophie Doyle) in her quest for success as a jockey in the US A quest that happily she is winning.

But I digress, The first Nordic trainer to attempt running here was in fact from Sweden, Reuterskiold in the 2005-6 season. This is the fourth year he has been here with just a couple of horse and whilst not winning they have picked nice prize money.

Petersen has continued to improve both the quality and the numbers of horses he travels here and has brought a tally of eleven lucky horses this time.

He had his first Carnival winner last year with Beat Baby who has yet to run at this year’s meeting but I hope we get to see him soon.

Plantagenet ran a nice second two weeks ago to add to the cache of Kroner returning to Norway. Niels has spoken to me of how his owner base has started to change with the advent of the Dubai sorties each winter and he now has clients who are looking for suitable horses to purchase and yearlings that have regular dirt type pedigrees with one thought in mind, the Dubai World Cup Carnival.

He has owners who are coming together to form small syndicates for the very same reason. It has to be understandable given the fantastic facilities on offer here as well as the obvious warm and sunny climate Dubai offers to escape from the dark cold days of winter at home.

There are six Scandinavian trainers and twenty one horses here at the moment, including three trainers trying the trip for the first time. One of those is Bodil Hallencreutz, whose runner Letsgoforit came very close to winning three weeks ago.

It was an exceptional performance given the wild antics that his very name suggests beforehand. I’m not sure if this had a detrimental effect on him as he really ran the proverbial ‘blinder’. It would great to see him out again without the pre-race drama which must have had his lady trainer’s nerves at breaking point. He could certainly be capable of taking the Golden Shaheen trophy back to Sweden.

It is an understood fact that horses returning to Scandinavia after spending a winter on holiday in the sun will be way ahead of their counterparts who have endured cold, snow and long dark days back home.

Hence the outstanding success garnered by the likes of Niels Petersen whose horse fly when they race in Norway’s beautiful springtime without the need for the whip, the use of which is forbidden on a Nordic racetrack.

— The author is a former trainer from the UK and the mother of leading international jockeys James and Sophie Doyle.