'The sun brings another lease of life' - Lord Glitters in his element in Dubai

No wonder Lord Glitters runs so well when he goes on his travels. It's 4pm on a dry day in Dubai. The thermometer says it is 25C but the lack of breeze means it feels more like 30C.

Anyone with half a brain in the Meydan Hotel is poolside on the eleventh floor and barely two miles away at the racecourse stables, Lord Glitters is stripped off and heading for a dip of his own.

Out of the quarantine yard along with his travelling companion Matt Ennis and one of the Meydan stable workers, Lord Glitters has the equine pool in his sights. A quick hose down and he's ready to take the plunge. Life's not so bad after all.

Looking so well, he could almost pass as a different horse to the Lord Glitters who has been a regular in the top mile races in Britain for the past four years and whose crowning moment came in the 2019 Queen Anne Stakes.

Gone is his familiar grey coat. Instead his skin shines like silver as he emerges from the second of two lengths of the pool. According to Ennis, the change in colour reflects how much the veteran is loving life in the sun.

"Every few days he'll have a little swim," says the 24-year-old, part of trainer David O'Meara's team in North Yorkshire and Lord Glitters' sidekick at home and abroad.

"On the days when we do an easier canter on the Tapeta, he'll come and do two or three laps of the pool. He seems to love it and it keeps him relaxed."

Soaking up the sun while Ennis fields the questions, Lord Glitters is in a relaxed mood after his swim. Inquisitive about the Dictaphone being waved around in front of him, he soon realises it's not edible and is happy to stand and wait patiently.

"You can just tell he enjoys it in the sun," says Ennis, "but whether he's at home or abroad he absolutely loves his work."

Lord Glitters looks a picture after his swimCredit: Edward Whitaker

Having won the Group 3 Bahrain International Trophy on November 19, Lord Glitters returned to O'Meara's yard for roughly a month and a half, but Dubai has been home to him and Ennis since January 5.

They are both at ease around Meydan, although one of them enjoys the heat more than the other.

"He knows he's going abroad as soon as he steps on the plane and settles straight into it," says Ennis, a decent amateur rider who does absolutely everything with Lord Glitters when they travel together. "I'm not as good with the heat as him but you've got to enjoy it when you're travelling horses like this.

"This has been us for the last three months. I usually get the bus from the hotel at 6am and I'd be with him from 6.15am. I go back for lunch and then get the bus back for 3.30pm, when he has a nice pick of grass and goes out in the sun for a bit."

Lord Glitters, whose longevity has made him one of the most popular Flat horses in training in Britain, has actually won more races abroad than he has on home soil and appears to be happiest when the sun is shining, with three victories at Meydan to go with his success in Bahrain.

"The sun will always help older horses with their joints – it seems to improve them. They can relax a lot more and feel better in themselves," explains Ennis.

"He's very grey at home but you come out here in the sun and he's almost white. When his coat comes and he goes from a darker grey to white, you know he's happy."

Ennis first travelled Lord Glitters to Dubai last year, where the now nine-year-old won the Group 2 Singspiel Stakes and the Group 1 Jebel Hatta, not to mention finishing third in the Al Rashidiya and sixth in the Dubai Turf on World Cup night.

Fast forward 12 months and Lord Glitters already has a second Singspiel Stakes in the bag and and at the weekend bids for a repeat in the Jebel Hatta on Super Saturday at Meydan. Victory would give him a third Group 1 of a remarkable career that has already seen him amass £2.2m in prize-money for his owners the Turnbull family.

"We just keep things simple," says Ennis of a winning routine. "We look to keep him quiet and relaxed and make him find it easy. He's happy when he's finding it easy and he loves it here.

"He's an old man now but the sun brings another lease of life and he's still got plenty of enthusiasm. He's won four Group races in the past year and I don't think you'll find many nine-year-olds doing that."

Lord Glitters alongside his groom Matt EnnisCredit: Edward Whitaker

Lord Glitters has been with the O'Meara yard since the end of 2017 after his late owner Geoff Turnbull went to €270,000 to buy him from France to fill the void left on the track by his other Group 1 winner Mondialiste, who had been retired for stud duties.

The replacement was also bought to provide Turnbull with a first Royal Ascot winner which he duly delivered, although O'Meara admits that the Royal Hunt Cup rather than the Group 1 Queen Anne was the race they initially had in their minds.

That Ascot success will be hard to top but the older Lord Glitters gets, the more emotional the victories have become. That was certainly the case for regular rider Danny Tudhope after the Singspiel last month.

Ennis explains: "Every win from now on is special. He's coming to the end of his career and you've got to love every moment with him. He's one of a kind."

A horse like Lord Glitters, whether he's waiting patiently in the Dubai desert or churning up the turf on a damp day in Yorkshire, can't help but put a smile on your face, although it is sad that Turnbull has not been present for his recent run of good form abroad.

"Dave always says he's a horse of a lifetime and he is, especially for his owners the Turnbulls – he's been a big horse for them. Geoff would be loving it and hopefully his son Nick will make it out here this year to see him run."

The big question now is can he repeat last year's win come Saturday? From everything the horse has been telling Ennis, it is certainly looking positive.

"He's in great form and I couldn't be happier with him," he says. "I think he's improving this year with each run and hopefully the best is still to come.

"I think we've got Barney Roy to beat on Saturday but we beat him in Bahrain. Zakouski is obviously in there but we've beaten him three times out of four. Sir Busker is a horse who has plenty of ability at home also, so there's a few horses there but we've beaten them all before and you'd like to think we'd beat them again."

Over to you old boy.

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