Tuesday, 14 February 2012

An Interesting Bio: Dr Jim Hay (Mrs Fitri Hay's Other Half)

  • Born: 1950 in Scotland
  • Residence: Dubai
  • Family: Wife Fitri
  • Education: B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Stratchclyde University

  • Professional Background: Worked for British Petroleum for 27 years before acquiring Fosroc, a company specializing in the provision of specialist chemicals to the construction industry. Based in Dubai, it has an annual turnover of more than $350 million and employs 1,700 people

  • Racing Background: Gained an interest in racing when watching the sport on television with his grandmother

  • Racing Career: Enjoyed his biggest success in racing on Oct. 2, 2010 when 2011 Dirt Mile prospect Redding Colliery, who began his career in Britain, but is now trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, won the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) ... Those achievements were eclipsed by Cape Blanco (Ire), who carried Mrs. Hay's silks to a trio of Grade 1 American successes in the summer of 2011. Having comfortably defeated Gio Ponti in both the Man o'War Stakes and the Arlington Million, he just lasted home in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic but insodoing suffered a career-ending knee injury ... Hay bought a share in both Cape Blanco and his stablemate at Aidan O'Brien's yard, Fame And Glory, during the winter of 2010-11. Fame And Glory went on to win the Ascot Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June on a very special day for Mr. and Mrs. Hay as they began the afternoon riding in a horse-drawn carriage from Windsor Castle as part of the royal procession ... Other top horses he has owned are Traffic Guard, who had a career bankroll of $600,000 and was runner-up to New Approach (Ire) in the 2008 Irish Champion Stakes, and Distant Memories (Ire), who won the 2010 Winter Hill Stakes (G3) 

  • Breeding/Racing Operation: First had horses with Kevin McAuliffe, then moved to Stan Moore, who provided his first winner when Barathea Dreams won at Lingfield in February 2004 ... Moved the majority of his string to join Jane Chapple-Hyam in 2007 but they split a year later. Hay has been restructuring his stable in 2010-2011, culling those of lesser standard and moving the better ones around. He now has about 40 horses in training, largely split between trainers Paul Cole, Stan Moore, and Tom Tate in Britain, and Aidan O'Brien in Ireland. Cole's horses went from around 20 down to only nine in 2011. Precision Break, who finished seventh in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Marathon, became his first horse with David Simcock. Pink Symphony was moved from Cole's yard to Irish handler David Wachman and won the Give Thanks Stakes (G3) at Cork in July 2011 on her first start for her new trainer. In spring of 2011, Hay moved six horses to Roger Varian, who took over the Kremlin House Stables at Newmarket from Michael Jarvis in March 2011. The idea was to have some horses at Newmarket, and to point them toward racing in Dubai. During the European winter, Hay's Dubai horses are trained by Herman Brown ... Jamie Spencer signed a contract in early 2010 to act as his retained jockey, and rode Cape Blanco for the Hays in America ... Alex Cole, son of Paul, acts as his racing manager.