H.H. Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival

Purebred Arabian racing on focus
as season gets under way

Highlight of Abu Dhabi event will be HH The President's Cup and National Day Cup,
while lady jockeys will have their first-ever race

By M. Satya Narayan, Chief Sports Reporter – Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: The capital kick starts its racing action for the 2011-12 season tomorrow with a six-race card catering to a perfect variety comprising of a Prestige race, a race for lady jockeys, a classy thorough-bred race and a Purebred Arabian race for private owners!

The Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club over the recent years has come to symbolise Purebred Arabian racing with nearly 85 per cent of the races catering to the Arabians.

The season starts with the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup which has attracted some of the top Group 1 runners vying for a slice of the Dh150,000 prize money and is part of the three-race category being organised under the umbrella of the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival.

The Zayed Cup and the Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies IFAHR Cup bring the curtain down on the Festival's activities for the 2010-11 season while the Wathba Stud farm Cup kick-starts the new season for the Festival.

Among the new-comers to the UAE racing season and particularly to Abu Dhabi is trainer Ernst Oertel from South Africa. Oertel has taken charge at the Al Asayl Stables and said, "This is an exciting new challenge and I am looking forward to the season ahead."

Oertel's yard will take on some of the best Purebred Arabians racing here in the UAE with trainers Gillian Duffield, Frenchman Eric Lemartinel, Lebanese trainer Saif Al Deen Deeb and Doug Watson among others while the Emirati band of trainers include Mosabah Al Muhairi, Bakhit Al Katbi, Majid Al Jahouri and Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

The highlight of the racing here in the capital will no doubt be the HH The President's Cup, the National Day Cup — both Group 12 races, while a handful of other group races make Abu Dhabi a happy hunting ground for Purebred Arabian owners and trainers.

While the opening day's action will see the first-ever race for lady jockeys, Emirati apprentice jockey Saeed Al Mazroui — who won two races in Jebel Ali last season — will be looking to open his account here on the ADEC turf course.

With attractive free raffle prizes for racing fans, a free-to-enter Pix-Six competition and a Tipping Competition for journalists — another exciting season is on the cards.