Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club has seen many a champion horse, jockey and champion trainer at work — but the one man who has been a constant figure in the capital's horseracing circuit is Patrick Buckley — or simply ‘Pat' — as he is dearly known.
It was in June 1991 that Pat and his wife Joyce landed at the Abu Dhabi airport and since then the man who won the Grand National in 1963 in a stunning performance, has negotiated every hurdle and is still one of the most popular officials in perhaps all sporting bodies in the capital.
There is just no one single role that he performs and Pat goes down memory lane as he completes 20 years in not only the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club but has played a huge role in the flat-racing set-up in the UAE itself.
Pat in fact has an awesome 33 years in the region under his belt as he was in Oman before coming to the UAE and recalled his first visit to meet the late UAE President Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1982.
"His Highness Sultan Qaboos sent me in 1982 to invite horses from the UAE to take part in racing in Oman and that was when I first met His Highness Shaikh Zayed. The UAE sent horses to race in Oman including some owned by the late Shaikh Mohammad Bin Khalid Al Nahyan," he said.
Points system
"Then soon after we had a Gulf Championship in Bahrain. Iraqi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar took part and I had five horses from Oman. It ran on points system and Saudi with most entries earned most points; I had two winners as Lester Piggot came over and rode for me. We won the main event, called the Gulf Cup or something," said Pat who used to be a trainer in Oman initially though he filled the position of ‘Racing Expert'.
After arrival in 1991 in Abu Dhabi, Pat played a crucial role as racing got organised and race meetings were being held in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Jebel Ali.
"We had a committee and at that time we had races for Arabians, Thoroughbreds and Crossbreds which in fact was older thoroughbreds with passports conveniently lost! We had a meeting with Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs] and Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan [Adviser to the National Security Council], who immediately ordered the cancellation of the Crossbred horse races as this would have affected the UAE racing getting internationally recognised," said Pat.
"Sharjah racing was in existence with the late Samir Abbas and Dr. Kamal Pasha who is still here and is one of the old-timers like me. Vijay Moorthy, who passed away recently, was the first Handicapper and we soon started having regular meetings all over and soon the Emirates Racing Associated came into existence," he said.
Pat Buckley has been a trainer, a racing official, a commentator, a co-ordinator with the media, a marketing man, in fact ‘all-in-one' at the ADEC as he claims.
Pat's wife, who was also a rider and used to double up as an instructor in Oman, is also a regular at the Abu Dhabi meetings, though she has been confined to the wheel chair after a stroke nine years ago.
Twenty years in Abu Dhabi and a total of 33 in the region and Pat confirms that this is home for him.
"People ask me when I am going home for holidays and I say this is home. When I walk down the street no one recognises me back home, but here if I walk in Abu Dhabi there are many who come up and say hi Patrick! This is home for me, I love a lot of things here," said Pat.
Truly there are many who also love Pat for the simple and straightforward way he handles a highly-complicated role and keeps smiling as he announces through the season, "It is all happening here in Abu Dhabi".
