Rome, Italy: Over 38 representatives representing different countries attended the fifth General Assembly meeting of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies, (IFHRA), which was held, at the Rome Cavaliere Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts.

The meeting, held on the sidelines of the seventh World Arabian Horse Racing Conference, was part of the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.

The meeting, chaired by Lara Sawaya, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA), was open not only for voting members of the IFHRA board of directors, but also to non-voting representatives, technical advisers and observers.

The meeting was co-chaired by Australian Chris Watson in the absence of Remi Bellocq, General Secretary of IFHRA, who however participated via Skype, as did three other representatives.

The meeting laid heavy focus on weight control with Sawaya stating that young jockeys need to be educated on this important issue as they are the future stars. While stressing that young jockeys do not listen and resort to “unhealthy” methods to lose weight, she said Dr George Wilson and his team from Liverpool John Moore University who are involved in research on this topic, would attend all future IFHRA meetings.

“The research and outcomes are a priority for the HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival and all racing academies should ensure that healthy weight control is being taught to apprentices in their schools. If we don’t take steps, no one will do it,” Sawaya added.

She said Dr Wilson will be responsible for conducting weight control workshops with apprentices, jockeys and amateur riders during the year-end finale of the Festival in Abu Dhabi from November 7-14.

Another issue that came under heavy focus was the welfare and financial compensation for jockeys suffering from long-term or career ending injuries. The UK, Ireland, US, France, Australia, Italy and Turkey representatives spoke about welfare programmes implemented in their respective countries.

Lara promised that she will look at the best practice models in Australia, UK and Italy during her visits to those countries and report to the next meeting on her findings and recommendations. She reminded everyone that the Festival contributed $100,000 dollars earlier this year to Santa Anita Racecourse for the benefit of injured jockeys.

Regarding the temporary suspension of Japan from IFHRA, it was decided that Sawaya will visit the country in June and sort out the issue. Suspension of Hungary will continue till a letter is issued from the Hungarian Ministry of sports, she reiterated.

Remi Bellocq, while reporting on the progress of the IFHRA Mentorship Programme, stated that eight participants have completed or are in the final stages of completing their placement. An additional three participants will commence the programme in the forthcoming months.

Mara Coote Freeman from Canada held a presentation on behalf of the IFHRA Communication Committee, updating board members on recent changes and developments in the IFHRA website and its new functions and on IFHRA’s successful entry into social media, including Facebook.

Bahrain was admitted as a member of IFHRA and Grant Harris was selected as a member of the Academic Sub-Committee. All the members of the IFHRA were invited to attend the Adihex exhibition scheduled from October 4 to 8, 2016. The next General Assembly of IFHRA will be held during the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, which will be held in Abu Dhabi from November 7-14.

Morocco named host of 2017 World Arabian Horse Racing Conference

A glittering dinner gala party held at the famous Pincio Park concluded activities of the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s World Arabian Horse Racing Conference (WAHRC) in Rome, with Morocco named as host of the 8th edition of the conference in 2017.

Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance, along with Omar Skalli, Director General of the Society for Promotion of Purebred Arabian horses in Morocco, received the WAHRC flag from the 2016 WAHRC hosts though Saqr Nasser Al Raisi, the UAE Ambassador to Italy, in the presence of the Mayor of Rome Tronga Francesco Paolo; Dr. Hessa Abdullah Al Otaiba, Ambassador of State to Spain and Non Resident envoy to the Vatican; Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival; UAE envoys to a few other countries besides the 500-plus WAHRC delegates from 81 countries in attendance.

The Festival presented mementoes to Shaikha Lubna, Al Raisi, Dr Al Otaiba while Rome Mayor Paolo and Colonel Massimo Crocco Barisano of the Lancers of Montebello were presented special paintings by Sawaya.

Paolo hailed the strong relations between Italy and the UAE and said the city of Rome was proud to have been the host for the important conference on Arabian racing. “The ties between the UAE and Italy have been strengthened. Italy’s Milan hosted Expo 2015, the universal exposition, and, in 2020, Dubai in the UAE will be the hosts. There is a lot of co-operation on between the two countries in this regard,” he said.

The loudest cheers of the night went to the HH Shaikh Mansoor Festival when Ziad Iskandarani, Certification Manager of Bureau Veritas, awarded the ISO 9001-2015 certificate to the HH Shaikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, the first and only one in the UAE to receive this honour. The certificate was received by Sawaya and Mussalam Al Amri on behalf of the Festival.

All panel members of the various sessions during the three-day workshop, along with representatives of the sponsors, UAE owners and trainers, jockeys and racing officials were honoured by the Festival.

Folk songs and music and dance performances highlighted the night, with the magnificently illuminated city of Rome forming the backdrop to the stage.