COSTA SET FOR MIDDLE EAST ROLE

Michael Costa set to train in Dubai

The turnaround is massive for Costa who just under a decade ago was sleeping in his car and now is linked with a lucrative deal to go and train in the Middle East Privately for a wealthy Sheik.

Costa is calling time on his Gold Coast operations to head to Dubai and work for Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The owner of two time Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Addeybb and a number of other Group 1 winning horses.

The offer was a bolt from the blue by the Sheik’s recruitment team and Costa initially thought it may have been a prank call.

“In January I received a call from Dubai just when I was going to bed, it was a bizarre number and I didn’t answer it because I thought it was a telemarketer or something,” Costa told News Corp.

“But they left a message, so I called back.

“It was a representative of the Sheikh and they said they had been looking around the world for a trainer and come across me and done their due diligence.

“I initially told them I didn’t want to waste their time too much, I feel like a pig in mud training on the Gold Coast and I’ve got a good business with good momentum and I felt like I could be in the top couple in the (Brisbane metropolitan training) premiership within a decade.

“But they came back to me with an offer and said they wanted me to go over to Dubai and have a look at their facility, so that’s what I did and it has all come together pretty quickly in the last couple of months.”

Costa really does embellish the rags to riches story after having to live in his car for long periods of time due to not being able to afford house rent as well as stable rent.

“One night I went to the Racing NSW Night Of Champions and all the racing people were getting picked up in flash limousines.

“At the end of the night, my missus and I realised we didn’t have enough petrol in the car and we didn’t have any cash. So we slept in the car in the carpark and watched all the racing people in their suits.

‘’I spent most of that year sleeping in the car because I couldn’t afford to pay both the stable rent and house rent.

‘’I was just a battler and I often didn’t even have enough money for petrol so I had to rely on people to help me out.”

While Costa wasn’t sure why he managed to beat a host of other names to the job he was keen to stress he will remain on the Gold Coast until the transition of his stable was complete.

“I will be here on the Gold Coast for as long as it takes to get the transition process done,” Costa said.

“I don’t want the wind-down period to impact the preparation of any of my horses and I also want to guarantee all my staff a job.

“I would say in an ideal world I will be in Dubai in three to four months.”

Costa’s biggest moment in his training career so far came last year when Phobetor won the Group 2 Missile Stakes at Randwick.

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