THERE are no guarantees in the bloodstock industry. Genetics and environment count for so much but not everything. Two of Joe Osborne’s sisters – “the clever ones” – have absolutely nothing to do with horses. Yet he, his brother John (former CEO of Irish National Stud and current CEO of HRI’s racecourse division) and sister Meta (the first female senior steward of the Turf Club, equine vet and owner of Tinnakill Stud with husband Dermot Cantillon) are immersed in it.

Joe has followed the path trodden by his late father Michael most closely, though he was, like Meta, a senior steward of the Turf Club too. Michael established Kildangan Stud as Sheikh Mohammed’s breeding base in Ireland in 1986 and was the Sheikh’s right-hand man for 20 years. Joe is managing director at Kildangan now and in June was appointed group chief executive of Godolphin. He sat down at Goffs last week to tell us how he is getting on.

What has changed on a week like this?

“It’s a global role so where you are physically doesn’t necessarily mean where you are mentally. You could be here at Goffs and getting phone calls from Japan, Australia, America, the UK or France. It just shows you the benefit of modern communications, how you can keep in touch with a global operation without having to be physically based at each place. That’s the difference compared to last year. There are probably more plates being spun.”

It sounds like a major challenge.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to be given. The first few months of the job were probably as much about reassuring people as anything; reassuring them regarding Sheikh Mohammed’s commitment to the present and the future. This time of the year is always about mapping out plans for next year’s strategy and budgets. We are working hard on ensuring that there is a shared vision and culture throughout the organisation all over the world.

“The people that are running the organisations in each country are super people to work with. I’ve known them well and that was probably one of the big plusses for me. It’s not like I got landed into this from outside. I’ve worked with Sheikh Mohammed for almost 25 years now so I know the people, I know the places.”

Clearly, Sheikh Mohammed has very significant commitments and demands on his time as ruler of Dubai. What is his involvement in the racing and breeding operation now?

“My job is to relay the message from him to the global team. Is he as involved as ever? Maybe not in the day-to-day stuff that he would have been in the earlier years. He’s got a country to run and Dubai is a lot of responsibility for him but is he as interested as ever? I’d say absolutely, if not even more so. We use the example of Royal Ascot, his presence there and his enjoyment of our success there. The racing, and the breeding that goes alongside it, is a passion for him. It’s a sport, it’s something that interests him, it’s what he engages with on his downtime. He gives the broad strategy and it’s up to us to implement it at director level and management level all the way down through the ranks.”

What represents success?

“For us success is measured at Group 1 level for the racing stable. Success on the stallion side of the business is measured by having stallions of the calibre of Dubawi and Shamardal in Europe, Medaglia D’Oro in America, Exceed And Excel in Australia and some of the other horses that shuttle there. They’re the two strands of our business and success is quantifiable.

“Globally this year Godolphin has won 18 Group 1s. Is that what success looks like? I’d say probably not. It should be more and we’re conscious of that but at least it’s going in the right direction. In this game decisions you make this year with regard to what stallions the mares are bred to next year – it takes a lot of time for these things to come to fruition. Our target is higher than 18 Group 1s because that’s the level of success the Sheikh and his family deserve.’’

Some of those decisions are bearing fruit now.

“It’s a combination. Decisions made on the day about certain things – how a jockey decides to ride a race, what the circumstances are on a day. But the matings, trainer allocations, what mares to retain, what ones to sell, what stallions to retire, where they stand, all have a role. It’s a complicated dynamic. Everybody’s got to stay ambitious to keep doing better because if you get complacent in this business you’re going to get passed out very quickly.”

The roster of trainers has expanded significantly. Godolphin decided to leave horses with trainers that you bought in training. Why was that decision made?

“If we look at a local example and the decision to buy New Approach and Dawn Approach. They’re with a trainer in Jim Bolger who knows the horses, they’re on a programme and it may be counter productive at times if you take them out of those environments. Ribchester had great success this season having remained in training with Richard Fahey. If you buy a horse, particularly if you buy colts, you’re thinking about their racing career but you’re thinking about their stallion career as well. Winning those Group 1s is important in their commercial viability so you try and keep them in an environment where they’re known.”

Who are your European trainers heading into 2018?

“In the UK, Saeed Bin Suroor, Charlie Appleby and John Gosden train for Godolphin. It’s André Fabre in France. Jim Bolger, John Oxx, Michael Halford and Willie McCreery will have around 80 horses between them in Ireland next year.”

What achievement in racing and breeding gave Sheikh Mohammed the greatest satisfaction?

“Most recently, Royal Ascot was fantastic, our best one ever. To win two high-profile Group 1s on the Saturday of the Breeders’ Cup with homebred horses, raised on his farms, sired by his stallions – that was a huge lift not just for him but for everybody that works for Godolphin globally. That makes the job so satisfying. Successes in Del Mar, California reverberates through every Godolphin operation. All of our people do feel part of that success.

“Dubai Millennium is well documented as a major high for Sheikh Mohammed. He had identified him early as a potential star, changed his name from Yaazer to Dubai Millennium. And then, after his success as a racehorse, his son Dubawi comes along and then he sires Wuheida. That sense of continuity and longevity is there. If you can breed your own stallions that’s a sign that you’re doing things right.”

Is this a business that needs to pay for itself?

“The phrase we use is value for money. With the number of horses we have in training in Europe in particular, you’re not going make a profit with racehorses. The stallion side of the business generates a profit for us. The only jurisdiction we make profit in with our racehorses is Japan, because there’s a very lucrative programme there with great prizemoney and incentives. Any spend that we have has got to be justified. We’ve got a good team of financial expertise at every location that oversees that side of things. If there’s money spent on racing, it mightn’t be profit-orientated but you’re making sure there’s value in it.

“The key expense driver for us is horse numbers. It’s quality driven. If a filly is going to come back into a broodmare band, the team that are involved in the breeding side has got to feel that she has the potential to produce good ones for us.”

“Globally we own over 4,000 horses, by the time you factor in horses in training, mares, foals, yearlings, stallions and retirees as well. It’s a massive scale.”

The fact Godolphin started buying Galileo yearlings this year attracted a lot of attention. What was the policy in the past and what is it now?

“There were lots of different theories out there but we were pushing the stallion side of our business quite strongly. We’d retired a lot of young horses to our stallion ranks and commercially it made sense for us to support our stallions, not only with our own mares, but in the sales ring as well.

“We’ve bought Galileos this year and are happy with them. The time is right. Our stallion business has reached a level of maturity as well. New Approach and Teofilo are by Galileo so we know the bloodlines. They’ve been successful for us as racehorses and as stallions.”

Where those yearlings going?

“That process is ongoing at the moment, between October and December they get divided amongst the various trainers. Between what we’ve purchased this year and what we bred, we’ve got a very high standard of yearling so we’re in a very good position.”

Will you ever send broodmares to Galileo?

“I’d say we will yes. That would be the next step. Because Dubawi has been a great stallion for us, we’ve got a lot of nice Dubawi fillies. Maybe some of them going to Galileo is a good fit from a pedigree point of view and would present good possibilities for the future.”

You must see your father everywhere you go in this role?

“His grave is right outside our office in Kildangan and I think about him every day. There’s no doubt about it, in terms of the job he did for Sheikh Mohammed in Ireland, internationally and then in his latter years in Dubai as well, it continues to open doors for me because of the respect that he was held in by Sheikh Mohammed, his family and the broader Dubai-based team. It’s great to be able to continue that legacy that he built up with Sheikh Mohammed as well. He was a great man to help young people along the way as well. People who are in senior roles now, he would have gotten them started and their gratitude is relayed to me when I meet them throughout the world.”

Barney Roy and Ribchester have been retired to stud. How is the decision as to whether they stand arrived at?

“Globally our stallions are advertised under the Darley banner. When we pushed the whole commercialisation of our stallion business it was important that there was a recognisable global brand. So particularly in Britain and Ireland, you wanted to be sure you had a balance between the two rosters, that you had a mix of middle-distance horses, milers, sprinters and that they complement each other.

“Many factors come into play in deciding where a stallion will stand. We retired two to Dalham Hall for next season: Postponed and Barney Roy; two will retire to Ireland: Ribchester and Profitable. Sire lines are considered: Iffraaj stands at Dalham Hall so there is logic in his son, Ribchester, standing in Ireland.

“We look at price points on the roster so ensure we have a good range in our fees. Even then there is a lot of flow back and forth with the stallions and with our client base: Irish clients sending mares to British stallions and British clients sending mares over to Ireland. So it works very well and the nominations teams in both locations work very closely together as well. It’s very well coordinated.”

What message would you have for breeders?

“I’d like to feel that we’re in it together with breeders. The two breeders of Ribchester very much followed his journey during his racing career. They were there for all of his runs this season. It’s great to see that, that they still feel part of that horse and then he comes back as a stallion. We wouldn’t have our success without breeders and I’d like to think that when they have success, that they feel we’re part of it as well. That’s very much Sheikh Mohammed’s approach. At the end of the day it’s a sport. Sport is about competition but it’s also about enjoyment.”

Which is how why you got involved initially?

“Yes and it’s part of that Bedouin tradition, that horses are so much part of their culture. Whether it’s for trade or leisure, horses were so important for centuries. You hear the stories of the different Bedouin tribes racing horses against each other on the beaches of Dubai. They’re the seeds from which horse racing originated.”

It is so similar to Ireland in that way and Sheikh Mohammed has always supported the industry in Ireland. The Curragh is another example of that. There was a lot of criticism surrounding the continuation of racing at the track during the redevelopment.

“As investors in it, I represent Godolphin at board level. It wasn’t a decision that was arrived at lightly. It was a case of ‘here’s the pros, here’s the cons, here’s the costs, here’s the income.’ In the end it was a consensus view that this is what should happen. I think some of the criticism at the early part of the season was a bit lopsided. I did feel that the Curragh team were very good at responding to feedback.

“As the season went on, for people that were there, it was a more enjoyable experience. These are temporary facilities but the Curragh racing surface is a very important asset to Irish racing and I think it’s in everybody’s interests that the horses get the benefit of running there. I would say if you canvas people, the people that go, they enjoy it. It will be a bit different next year as to how it’s going to be configured but I think it was the right call to continue racing.

“Our competition now is Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium. You’ve got to measure yourself against those sort of stadia in the first instance. The biggest competition of all is high definition television, where people are quite happy to sit at home and watch their sport on TV so you’ve got to get people motivated to go and see it live.

“It’s been a long-standing mantra of mine that racing shouldn’t judge itself on attendances primarily. I get that it’s a metric but it shouldn’t be the key driver. It’s about the quality of the experience people get. There are very few sports anywhere where you can get as close to the action as you can to horse racing and the key players, the jockeys, the trainers and the horses. It’s unique and Irish racing deserves to have facilities like the Curragh Racecourse is going to be.” 

Jim Bolger

“I liken him to Federico Tesio and that’s the highest praise you can give to anybody. To be able to do what he has done, not just as a trainer but as a breeder and an owner as well – he is a unique man anyway – but to be able to do that in the modern era is remarkable. There’s no-one anywhere in the world to have achieved that level of success. He’s a man of strong opinions but he’s also somebody who’s happy to back his judgement. He’s been a great team player for us. There were a few big calls to be made, running New Approach in the Derby, running Dawn Approach in the St James’s Palace after a poor run at Epsom – he’s got courage as well.”

André Fabre

“I’d describe him as a living legend as well. His ability to map out campaigns for horses months and months in advance is extraordinary. He’s gifted in his ability to spot talent. I’d say 99 out of 100 trainers would say ‘we’ll run Cloth Of Stars in the Breeders’ Cup Turf’ and he was able to see something in Talismanic and send him. He’s been part of Sheikh Mohammed’s success for decades now. He’s a gifted horseman and a great trainer.”

John Gosden

“I’ve known John now since he was in America. He’s been a huge part of both Darley and Godolphin and is a great trainer. What he’s done in the last couple of years in particular – his training of Enable has been fantastic. He understands how it all fits together in terms of what Godolphin is, and its place in Dubai and is coordinating the buying of our yearlings as well since the summer yearling sales. He’s hugely respected by Sheikh Mohammed and the team. We’re blessed to have access to him as well. He’s been a great man to work with.”