Simon Crisford is to leave his position as racing manager to Godolphin, following the steroids scandal that afflicted Sheikh Mohammed’s racing organisation last year. Crisford was responsible for recommending that the Sheikh hire Mahmood al-Zarooni, the trainer who was banned from the sport for eight years last spring after his doping activities were discovered.
But it would be an exaggeration to describe Crisford as a casualty of the scandal, since it appears he will continue to be employed by Sheikh Mohammed in a role with a slightly grander title. He will now be “global racing adviser” to the ruler of Dubai, according to quotes attributed to Crisford on the Racing Post’s website.
“Having dealt with the events of last year and seen the Lord Stevens inquiry through to its conclusion, I thought that this was a good moment to bring my time at Godolphin to a close,” Crisford is reported as having said. “I had felt for a while that I would like a fresh challenge. I think the time is right for a new start for the stable and for me. I am very much looking forward to what will be an exciting new chapter for me.”
Lord Stevens was commissioned by the Sheikh to examine his thoroughbred empire in the wake of Al-Zarooni’s doping and two government raids last year that found unlicensed equine medication on property owned by the Sheikh in Britain. The report, published a fortnight ago, blamed “management failings, insufficient oversight and a sense of complacency within the organisation”. But no individuals were named or blamed in the public version of the report.
However, Crisford had already shouldered some of the responsibility for the disaster that Al-Zarooni brought on Godolphin, saying of his recruitment: “It’s deeply regrettable and shows a remarkable lack of judgment on my part to recommend him to Sheikh Mohammed, which I did do.” Crisford added that he could not be aware of “every single bit of medication that every Godolphin horse is getting”.
Later, a Godolphin statement said that three vets had also resigned. It offered no detail on the reasons for their departure.
Crisford, 51, has been Godolphin’s manager since it was created as Sheikh Mohammed’s racing team 20 years ago. The Godolphin website said his duties were “similar to those of any chief executive of a major company” and described him as “responsible for the management of each horse’s career”.
He had initially been hired by the Sheikh in 1989 to work for his Darley Stud in Newmarket. Crisford’s previous job was Newmarket correspondent for the Racing Post, which followed stints at the stables of John Dunlop and Sir Mark Prescott.
One report claimed that, following Crisford’s departure, the position of Godolphin’s racing manager would no longer exist and Godolphin’s trainers in Newmarket, Charlie Appleby and Saeed Bin Suroor, will become the chief spokesmen for their own stables.
– The Guardian
