Dubai: Polish horse racing officials have praised the role played by the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival in helping revive interest in the breeding of Purebred Arabian race horses in the country.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s UAE Day of racing, the Sluzewiec race course Director Wlodzimierz Bakowski said, “For about 10 years there was a huge decline in the breeding of Purebred Arabian racehorses but all this has changed in the recent past.
“In the last four years since the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival started organising races here in Poland and the region, we have witnessed a surge in breeding and this augurs well for the future of Arabian racing.
“It is both a challenge as well as a matter of pride to be staging both the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup (Group 3) Nagroda Europy and the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship races on August 25 here in Warsaw,” Bakowski said.
Asim Mirza Al Rahman, the UAE’s Ambassador to Poland, added: “It is a great honour to stage the races initiated by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, Supreme President of the Family Development Foundation (FDF) and Head of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.”
Al Rahman added: “These races are not only highly important on the local calendar but with the participation of horses from all over the world they have become truly international.”
Al Rahman and Lara Sawaya, Director of the Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and Head of International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) for Ladies Racing also announced that Poland would be the host country for the 2015 Arabian Horse Racing Conference.
“The UAE Embassy here in Poland and the Polish Jockey Club have helped in making the Festival’s races a huge success. This Sunday’s Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Group 3) gains added importance as it is the third leg of the European Triple Crown after Duindigt and Berlin and the winner with maximum points from the three legs will gain a bonus of €30,000 [Dh146,983]. This is in addition to the €20,000 prize money for the Prestige (Group 3) race,” Sawaya said.
“Twelve lady jockeys will be taking part in the HH Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship, the draw for which was held recently and with €20,000 on offer this makes it one of the richest for ladies’ racing. Poland is one of the 12 races that comprise the world championship, which culminates in Abu Dhabi later this year.
“The Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, which started with four races in 2009, will this year stage a total of 73 races in 24 countries and this series, which is the biggest ever, will touch 94 races next year,” Lara added.
Feliks Klimczak, president of the Polish Jockey Club said, “Poland’s contribution to Arabian racing is special and almost all top champion horses will have some connection to Poland. This festival provides us a great opportunity for our country to showcase the quality of our Arabian horses while making Sluzewiec race course an international venue.”
And in another major boost to the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Wojciech Szpil, President of Totalizator Sportowy, confirmed that both the Purebred Arabian races will get live coverage in Poland.
