Abu Dhabi: The Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival's Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup races have been increased to 10 for 2012, while the third World Arabian Racing Conference will be held in Berlin next year, it was announced yesterday.
The Festival's Director Lara Sawaya said, "After Abu Dhabi in 2010 and The Hague in 2011, Berlin in Germany will host the 2012 World Arabian Racing Conference. The three-day conference will be held on June 7, 8 and 9 while on June 10 the Festival's race meeting will be held."
The June 10 race meeting at the Hoppegarten race course in Berlin will also include the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup and the Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Fegentri Cup races.
"The UAE Embassy in Germany have pledged their full support to the three-day conference and we are confident that it will be another great success and important issues will be on the agenda," Sawaya said.
Fan base
Mats Genberg, Secretary of International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing (IFAHR), Essam Abdullah of Emirates Arabian Horse Society (EAHS), Stephen Bowey, executive director (marketing) Invest AD, Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club (ADEC), Talal Al Hashmi of Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADCC) and Peter Banzhaf, on behalf of DRAV (German Racing Association of Arabian Horses) also addressed yesterday's press conference.
"This year we saw huge crowd of fans who attended the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup at Hoppegarten race course and we are sure the World Arabian Racing Conference in Berlin will also be a huge success. Berlin has a long tradition of staging Arabian races and this conference will boost the region's interest in Arabian horses," Banzhaf said.
IFAHR's Genberg said, "We realise now that the initiative of Shaikh Mansour to launch the World Arabian Horse Racing Conference was a courageous step in the right direction."
