It might have been a throwaway comment made after a thrilling battle, but there was conviction in the words.

“We’re going from strength to strength and we’re not done yet,” His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa said after his Economics had triumphed in last year’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes.

Sadly for the owner, Economics has been on the sidelines this season, but he was not referencing the colt in that debrief.

Shaikh Isa, rather, was speaking in his role as Chairman of the Rashid Equestrian and Horse Racing Club (REHC), which has the Bahrain Turf Club (BTC) as an offshoot. He has been at the heart of its growth in recent years, overseeing the emergence of the Bahrain International Trophy, which takes place in November, as a bona fide target for quality overseas raiders and boosting the domestic programme.

This summer, he went a step further, recruiting Daniel and Claire Kubler to train for him and other members of the Bahrain royal family when the new 2025-26 season begins on October 31.

It was a move that took some by surprise. The Kublers, based in Lambourn, have seen their profile rise in recent years, their innovative and scientific approach to the job winning many admirers.

And while they would not be the first members of the British training ranks to become ex-pats, Daniel Kubler insists their decision is not because they have grown weary of industry flaws here, but, instead, is down to a golden offer.

“It would be fair to say we weren’t actively seeking the opportunity, and we haven’t come here because we think British racing is about to collapse – there are plenty of positives in it – but it’s more about how interesting and exciting a challenge this will be,” he says. “There’s an opportunity to work with people who are very ambitious with great plans. I think it’s important to emphasise that and, for us, it’s about what’s happening here and the potential that exists. Everyone seems so passionate about the sport and has a positive attitude, which was a key attraction too.”

The couple got a taste for what the country had to offer when Astro King ran in the 2023 Bahrain International Trophy after he had landed the Cambridgeshire.

Introduced in 2019, the 1m2f contest was then only a conditions race, but boasted prize-money of £500,000 with connections of the French-trained Royal Julius earning half of that for first place.

It was boosted to a Group 3 in 2021 when Lord Glitters prevailed for David O’Meara and the last two editions – won by Sir Alex Ferguson’s willing homebred Spirit Dancer – have carried Group 2 status.

This year’s race, which takes place on November 14, is worth $1 million with around £450,000 going to the winner.

“When we won the Cambridgeshire, it occurred to us that it was a good target for Astro King, which led us to look at it more,” Kubler adds. “And, when you really start looking, you see the ambition the Turf Club has is huge.

Underpinning the ambition is a deep-seated love and appreciation of horses

“My experience is still limited, but Bahrain seems to approach everything in a thoughtful, lets-do-it-well way that’s for the long term and not just a short-term, flash-in-the-pan thing. The Bahrain Trophy is a good example of that. It’s progressed and there’s been a desire to build it into an important part of the fixture list internationally.”

Kubler, speaking from Bahrain on a recent reconnaissance mission, goes on: “They’ve raced here for a long time and there’s a natural affinity for the horse, which has been very clear in the short space of time I’ve been here – there’s that connection.

“In recent years, though, there’s been a real enthusiasm and invigoration to make it better, improve facilities, the quality of races and the quality of the horses. It feels something very exciting is happening here, which was a major reason to come.”

Underpinning the ambition and investment in racing in Bahrain is, as mentioned by Kubler, a deep-seated love and appreciation of horses in common with other Middle Eastern states. Historically, the sport was conducted in private and was the domain of purebred Arabians, but in 1948 a committee was created and a royal decree in 1977 helped establish the REHC, which staged races in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, and now in Riffa, its second-largest city.

Racing takes place mainly once a week on Fridays on quickish turf and the current site – where floodlights are a relatively new feature – has an inner and outer track that measure 2,100m (1m2½f) and 2,300m (1m3½f) round with six-furlong straight chutes.

It is managed by Clerk of the Course Andy Waitt, who was previously in charge at Chelmsford City and replaced ex-Lingfield chief Neil Mackenzie Ross in 2023. The BHA’s former Head of  Stewarding Paul Barton and its one-time Head of Handicapping Phil Smith are familiar names also involved in Bahrain, which, according to statistics published in 2006 by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), held 162 races the previous campaign contested by 268 horses.

In 2023-24, there were 199 races, but the horse population had risen to 520, while last season 40 trainers were licensed, along with 20 jockeys and 20 apprentices who rode for a total of 134 owners.

The nation has made its mark on a wider level as well. Fawzi Nass, who had a brief spell training in Newmarket, saddled Krypton Factor to win the Golden Shaheen at Meydan in 2012, and more recently notable Bahraini ownership has taken root in Britain.

As well as Economics, Shaikh Isa saw his colours carried to top-flight glory in the 2022 Fillies’ Mile by Commissioning, while His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and his brother His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa have had success via their Victorious Racing and KHK Racing banners; think star sprinter Bradsell for the former, and St Leger hero Eldar Eldarov and ace juvenile Vandeek for the latter. Golden Horde also won the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in 2020 in the silks of Al Mohamediya Racing.

It has not, however, been a one-way route and George Scott, whose Isle Of Jura excelled there in 2024 before striking at Royal Ascot, and George Baker are among a host of British trainers lured by the programme, which, along with the Bahrain International Trophy, includes the Group 3 King’s Cup, worth $200,000 last term but now offering double that, four Listed events and the Club’s 12-race Turf Series that has a prize fund of $1m, is held over a variety of trips and targets horses rated 85-102.

“Again, that Turf Series is extremely thoughtful,” says Kubler. “Seeing a gap in the market and providing a good opportunity.”

It might seem the fixture list, which goes on until April, leans towards visiting runners, but Ed Veale, the BTC’s Director of Racing and International Relations, stresses that is not the case and attracting participants from overseas goes hand in hand with increasing the quality of the domestic horses and the races they participate in.

He is approaching four years in the jurisdiction, where the sport is funded by the government, partners and stakeholders, and says: “It’s very important we use one another to drive competition and to create a competitive race programme that is both appealing to international horses to take part in, but also for domestic owners and trainers, who want to acquire bloodstock to race here
and be competitive.

There’s a long-term plan and aspiration to make Bahrain a really special place for racing,

“Part of the strategy in terms of using these international races, gathering more exposure and getting a spotlight on us, is to then use that momentum to keep strengthening further and investing here.

“We promoted 18 races as international last season, of which nine were won by international horses and nine by domestically trained horses; that’s the balance of competition we need to keep striving for.”

According to Veale, the races – run between five furlongs to 1m4f but not including any for two-year-olds – have a relatively even split for imported horses and those born in the region, where Call To Mind, a Grade 2-winning homebred for the late Queen Elizabeth II, is an emerging sire.

Upgrading the Bahrain International Trophy to a Group 1 is a key objective for the authority, which welcomes the sport’s widening appeal domestically as “an opportunity to shape people’s  perception of racing and showcase it in a fresh way”.

Building its offering in almost a brick-by-brick manner seems at the core of the BTC’s mindset.

“His Highness has a vision of building a racing jurisdiction that is defined by opportunity, competition and excellence, and that takes time,” Veale says. “Everything needs to align and we want a  product everyone – domestically and internationally – can engage with and be proud of. That’s part of the Club’s ethos for the betterment of racing in Bahrain.”

That approach is appreciated by Kubler.

“There’s a long-term plan and aspiration to make Bahrain a really special place for racing, which is very appealing for us, we want to be part of it,” he says, not for one moment daunted by what’s to come.

“There are challenges anywhere you train and there are fresh ones here, but racing’s real appeal is solving a puzzle. As a fan, you try to understand which horse will win and, as a trainer, it’s about trying to get the horse to win.

“You’ll never crack it entirely, which is the beauty of it, but maybe a fresher puzzle was stimulating for us.”