Rome: The HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival will create a unified database of information on Purebred Arabian racing under its umbrella by the end of the year.
The announcement on Saturday during the workshop that brought the curtains down on the three-day World Arabian Horse Racing Conference (WAHRC) was greeted with loud cheers by the nearly 500-strong fraternity of expert delegates from various fields, racing officials, owners, trainers, jockeys, media and representatives of sponsors of the Festival as it completed a successful organisation of its 7th annual WAHRC.
“Under instructions from Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the Festival will set up a database of all aspects of Purebred Arabian horses racing that will help promote the sport,” announced Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.
“We will work with Equibase, Racing Post, Paris Turf, the Emirates Racing Association, the Emirates Arabian Horse Society and many other such data providers but the main participants will have to be the respective National Federations and their Arabian Registers involved with the sport of Arabian horse racing,” she said.
Earlier, Sami Al Boueinen, Chairman of IFAHR, responded to criticism over the length of time it has taken to set up a database, and highlighted the difficulties IFAHR faced, the main one being the inconsistent supply of information by race bodies and organisations in various member countries.
Sawaya warned that the Festival would even consider pulling out its support to those countries not cooperating with providing quick and accurate information regarding their domestic racing calendar, data on horses, owners, trainers and jockeys as well as results. “This is the first step which will go a long way in the promotion of Purebred Arabian horse racing,” she said.
A large number of owners and trainers lamented the shortage of races, particularly in the UAE, for Purebred Arabian races. Richard Mullen, supported by fellow jockey Xavier Ziani, said night time temperatures in late April and early May could allow for racing of Arabians to take place without risk while the ERA’s Yasser Mabrouk noted that it could be difficult. Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club Racing Director Pat Buckley felt it was better to have extra races per meeting than extend season.
