Abu Dhabi: More than 200 delegates and experts from various field of Purebred Arabian racing are expected to take part in the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival's World Arabian Horse Racing Conference, to be held in Berlin in June this year.

Announcing details of the three-day conference to be held at the UAE Embassy premises in Berlin from June 7-9, Lara Sawaya, Director of the Festival said: "This year we will be having some experts on the panel and will include women jockeys from around the world to discuss the challenges faced by them."

"The first conference in Abu Dhabi and the second one in The Hague in The Netherlands were an overwhelming success and with delegates from more countries such as Japan also taking part we are hopeful of continuing our giant strides forward. This year the US will be having a stronger presence at the conference," she said.

"The Festival is a member of IFAHR and along with the 25 countries which are members we are keen to enhance the status of Arabian racing and for this |I must place on record the support of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority," Sawaya said.

Organisation's aim

The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority's Abdullah Al Qubaisi said, "Among all the activities being organised by the Festival the Racing Conference has played a huge role in achieving what has also been our organisation's aim which is to preserve and spread the culture and identity of the UAE. Since 2009 this Festival has grown in strength and the third edition will be more fruitful in promoting Arabian racing around the globe."

Sami Al Boenian, IFAHR Chairman, hailed the success of the first two editions and confirmed that most of the recommendations were being implemented.

"We can't at this stage give you numbers or measure the progress by figures but there has been a sea change in the way Arabian Horse Racing is being viewed.

"Japan's presence will be a huge step forward. Though I am not sure if they have racing for Arabian horses I do know that there are a lot of Arabian horses in Japan. And their racing industry is huge so it would be good to share their experiences with others at the conference," the IFAHR chief said.

Mats Genberg, another IFAHR official said the interest in Arabian racing and IFAHR's activities had reached a new high since the Festival was launched.

"We started IFAHR 13 years ago and had sown the seeds but it was only after the Shaikh Mansour Festival was launched that our efforts have begin to bear fruit.

"Iran and Lebanon have applied for IFAHR membership. Also there is a formation of Arabian Horse Racing Organisation in Brazil," the Swedish official said.