Abu Dhabi: The Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival is set to mark the fifth edition of the World Arabian Horse Racing Conference with five days of action in London from Wednesday.
Abu Dhabi hosted the first edition of the annual conference in 2010 and the event has since been held in The Hague in the Netherlands, Berlin in Germany and Toulouse in France.
Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the Shaikh Mansour Festival and Chairman of Ladies Racing at the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR), said: “Nearly 400 guests and officials representing various sectors of Purebred Arabian horse racing are attending.
“The three-day conference will be held at St. James Theatre, starting on May 28, and this year we have included some innovative subjects like social media, online and networking and research and weight maintenance for jockeys.
“The conference will end with a gala dinner at the Guildhall on May 30 and, the next day, the Festival’s two prestigious races — the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup and the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship IFAHR — will be held at the Newbury race course.
“On June 1, the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Endurance Festival Cup, a 100-km FEI event for Arabian horses, will be at King’s Forest, Thetford.”
The conference will start with opening remarks by Abdul Rahman Al Mutaiwe’e, UAE ambassador to the UK, Sami Al Boueinen, Chairman of IFAHR, and Genny Hanes representing the Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO). The opening ceremony will be followed by three sets of discussions.
The UK’s renowned racing commentator Derek Thompson will moderate the opening session on breeding, with the participants being Shaikh Hamed Al Hamed (UAE), William Smith (UK), Rene Koch (France), Linda Otermans (Netherlands), Mamdouh Al Baraqi (Saudi Arabia), Salim Al Quraini (Oman), Jean Pierre Deroubaix (France) and Michelle Morgan (US).
In the afternoon, a session on ‘Racing and Training’ will be held, with Pat Buckley as moderator. Faisal Al Rahmani (UAE), Jean Pierre Totain (France), Yves Plantin (France), Yasir Mabrouk (Sudan/UAE), Karin van den Bos (Netherlands), Ernst Oertel (South Africa/UAE), Mohammad Al Hashemi (Oman) and Susanna Santesson (Germany) will be participating.
The next session will be on ‘Vetting, Nutrition and Legal Aspects’, with Philip Brennan (UK) moderating and the speakers being Dr Mohammad Al Machmoum (Morocco), Alberic Thiery (France), Ahmad Al Badi (UAE), Jerard Habibian (Lebanon), Izeta Sulemanjin (Croatia), Graham Walcroft (UK) and Kathy Smoke (US). A welcome dinner will conclude the opening day’s programme.
