• Home
• /
• Horse Racing

Top trainers, jockeys to visit UAE

Some of the top trainers and jockeys invited for the Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival’s final race of the Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup...

series are getting themselves acquainted with the Purebred Arabian racing scene in Abu Dhabi.

Sunday’s Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, a prestige race, is the feature event of the inaugural meeting of the Abu Dhabi flat racing season and will also bring to an end the Shaikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival’s races for 2010.

Before this final race, Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival’s final race of the Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup series, organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), was staged in Toulouse, Amsterdam, Delaware in the US, Frankfurt, Warsaw and Craon.

Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, advisor for culture and heritage at the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the director general of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), said he was looking forward to the visit. “The visit of trainers and jockeys to the UAE will be a big boost to the sport of Purebred Arabian racing. For us in the UAE, Arabian horse racing is part of our culture and heritage and we are very happy with the success of the Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival series over the last two years,” he said.

“Among the invited trainers are Jean Francois Bernard, Jean Pierre Totain, Robert Litt and Damien De Watrigant. Jockeys who have come are Jean Bernard Eyquem, Jean Baptiste Hamel, Jimmy Martin, Roberto Carlos Montenegro, David Morisson, Charles Nora, Philippe Sogorb and Fabrice Veron,” said Lara Sawaya, Director of Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival.

“After Sunday’s Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup we will honour Al Khalidiah Stables based in Saudi Arabia after their horse, Muqatil Al Khalidiah won Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Racing Festival’s Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup’s three-race series held in France, Holland and Poland,” Sawaya said.

Marcial Boisselli, racing manager in Europe for Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who is part of the visiting group along with AFAC’s Izeta Sulemanjin, said, “This visit has thrilled trainers and jockeys, many of whom are coming here for the first time. On Friday they met Shaikh Mansour at the Wathba Stables and the visitors also experienced the facilities for Purebred Arabian racing. They enjoyed the time spent at the falcon farm of Shaikh Mansour.”

Mussalam Alamri, racing manager to Shaikh Mansour said, “It was good for the trainers and jockeys who are involved with our horses to visit us here in the UAE. Abu Dhabi is a major centre for Purebred Arabian racing and since they are involved with Shaikh Mansour’s horses in Europe, we had a good exchange of views.”

The Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan for Global Arabian horse flat-racing series is organised by The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) in co-ordination with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council with support from the Bonyan International Investment Group, Invest AD, Areej Al Amerat, Wathba Stud Farm, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club and the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2011.