Sheikh Samir Mirdad
A Co Louth-based sheikh is one of many people hoping to raise tens of thousands of euro for charity at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
Sheikh Samir Mirdad, who resides in Annagassan, is an advisor to senior royal family members in the Gulf and an accomplished show jumper.
The 45-year-old has swapped his jacket for silks though to rise the Willie Mullins-trained Ballylongford in the Cancer Research fundraising St Patrick’s Derby on Thursday.
The sheikh revealed his determined streak as after training in Dubai, he then travelled to Mullins’s yard in Carlow to get some tips from jockey Ruby Walsh.
Sheikh Samir aims to raise €50,000 and will be fundraising in memory of his grandmother, Aasha, who died of breast cancer.
His wife Lynda Pollock Mirdad is also recovering from breast cancer at present.
“I’m not going to take a picture; I’m a competitive person, it’s in my nature and in everything I do. I’m going to try and give it a go,” he said.
He also revealed his time in Carlow had proven worthwhile.
“They got the fear out of me of speed; when those horses are going fast it is scary.
“I’m more confident now,” he said.
A native of Saudi Arabia, the Sheikh’s love affair with Annagassan started by accident when his good friend Dermott Lennon, a former show-jumping World Champion, helped him select a few horses from Annagassan.
He had been told about a location at Dunany and rang Tom Ridgeway from the CastleHorses in Dillonstown by mistake. He became good friends with Tom and his wife Patricia and when a nearby farm came on the market, he couldn’t believe his luck and purchased it.
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