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Simpson quits job in Dubai after one month
(The Racing Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)ROD SIMPSON'S topsy-turvy career has taken yet another unexpected twist with confirmation yesterday that he had quit one of the top training posts in Dubai after just a month.
Simpson, who replaced banned champion trainer Mazin Al Kurdi at Millennium Stables on December 12, walked out on Thursday, despite having a contract that put him in charge of the yard until the season ends in April. Among the approximately 120 horses in his care, predominantly for champion owner Sheikh Rashid, Sheikh Mohammed's eldest son, were Group 1 winner Yard-Arm and recent high-profile Tattersalls purchases Hazyview and Kilworth.
Moves are underway to bring in a new trainer, with speculation he may come from South Africa, but in Simpson's absence it was last night unclear whose name will be attached to the stable's entries for Thursday's opening meeting of the third Dubai Racing Carnival, which are made today.
Simpson refused to disclose his reasons for turning his back on a prestigious job that is sure to cost him financially but, a born survivor, he is already planning a new venture aimed at re-establishing himself in Britain, specifically aimed at preparing horses for the Dubai Carnival.
He said: "I resigned my position at Millennium Stables on Thursday through mutual agreement, and I don't want to say any more than that, but I am still employed by the Emirates Racing Association - my contract is with the ERA - and I am contracted to April 30.
"I'm very hopeful another position would be found for me, and I'm happy I was able to train the last winner in Sheikh Maktoum's Gainsborough Stud colours before he died."
Simpson, who has been based in the UAE for the past four years, was drafted in at Millennium Stables in a caretaker capacity after Al Kurdi received a four-month ban when four of his seven winners this season tested positive for the prohibited steroid boldenone.
Contacted by the Racing Post yesterday, both Fin Powrie, chief steward of the ERA, and Frank Gabriel, chief executive officer of the Dubai Racing Club, said they had been notified of Simpson's departure, but neither was able to offer an explanation.
Gabriel said: "We haven't yet heard who the new trainer is. I heard there was a possibility of somebody coming from South Africa, but nothing has been confirmed to us."
Simpson added: "At the end of my contract here, I'm coming back to Britain, where I want to get a small yard and form a racing syndicate that targets the Dubai Carnival. Through my time here, I know the tracks and I know the training, what works and what doesn't, and I even know now what sort of horse you need, which is important when you are buying, and with the Dubai Carnival set to get bigger and better every year, I think I can put that experience to good use."
DUBAI is not the only country to undergo a significant trainer change ahead of Thursday's opening Carnival meeting.
India's top filly Venus Arising has been moved to another trainer after controversial trainer Cooji Katrak was suspended for nine months at the weekend for a drugs offence.
Katrak, who won three Grade 1 races, including the Indian 1,000 Guineas and Oaks with Venus Arising, was banned after one of his horses, who was beaten at odds-on, tested positive for diazepam, a prohibited substance that acts on the nervous system.
Two of Katrak's stable staff were warned off for five years for giving misleading evidence, and another was banned for the same length of time as Katrak, who has fallen foul of the stewards in Western India on a number of occasions for breaching medication rules.
THE death yesterday of Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, following Sheikh Maktoum's death 11 days earlier, resulted in the cancellation of racing at Abu Dhabi.
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