New racing season under starter's orders

Here we go. One of the most eagerly anticipated seasons in UAE racing history begins this evening at Nad Al Sheba. And if past history is anything to go by, then standy by for a heady mix of close finishes, course records and personal triumphs.
Record purse money will be on offer during the 2000-01 season which builds dramatically to the season highpoint - the $6 million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates. In addition the new season includes a significant increase in the number of Pattern events that have been so framed to cater to all categories of horses. The focus will rightly be on the three-year-olds and their ultimate target, the $2 million UAE Derby, as also the myriad of sprint and middle distance races that offer lucrative purses.
In all nine new pattern races have been introduced to the meticulously planned racing calendar that runs through till its April 14 finale in 2001.
The nine races, which open with the Mazrat Al Ruwayah (Prestige) mile for Pure Arabians on December 28, bring to 16 the number of pattern races for the breed. The thoroughbred total swells to an impressive 29 pattern races, eight of which are sheduled to make their debut this season.
Undoubtedly, one of the highlights will be the unique Dhs one million Pearls of Dubai Sales Graduate Stakes (Prestige), a mile and one race framed exclusively for Southern Hemisphere-bred horses that were auctioned at Nad Al Sheba last month. The sale was an unprecedented success and generated returns in excess of Dh10 million.
Additions likes these to the UAE racing calendar are bound to generate further interest in the racing fraternity and it's large fan following. Since the introduction of professional racing in 1990, the UAE racing industry has grown rapidly and now boats the highest financial returns to owners in the world. An achivement that is really remarkable considering the short span of development.
It would certainly be no exaggeration to say that the sport's phenomenal growth in the region has been the result of one extraordinary man's vision - General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence. It is hard to envisage such a transition without refering to Sheikh Mohammed and his vision.
He has been such a visible presence in world and domestic racing and it is primarily through through his aggressive planning and uncompromising quality that UAE racing has progressed into its present international perch.
Many of the world's leading jockeys, trainers, handlers, and more recently owners, will stake their claim to the UAE racing industry's attractive prizes over the next six months during a season that criss-crosses through state-of-the-art race courses at Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Jebel Ali and Ghantoot.
The season flags-off today with a competitive six-race card at Nad Al Sheba, where veteran trainer Paddy Rudkin appears poised to make a flying start. Rudkin has secured the services of big race rider Michael Hills, twin brother to Dubai regular Richard. Michael replaces young Neil Pollard who enjoyed a fantastic season with Rudkin.
The crack championship winning team of Satish Seemar and Ted Durcan, who were responsible for many of the thrills during an electrifying last season, will find their work cut out for them with their leading wards having gone up appreciably in handicap. However, the introduction of several new horses to twice champion trainer Seemar's exceptionally well-managed Zabeel Stables could provide them with the fresh blood so vital to the sport.
Former English Derby winning jockey Willie Ryan returns to Dubai to ride former UAE champion jockey Peter Brette, who will begin his first season as a lisence holding trainer. Much can be expected of this team, as also with that of Frenchman Erwan Charpy and promising Irish apprentice Keith Dalgleish.
New trainer-jockey teams include Willie Supple and Kiaran McLaughlin, Pat Smullen and Dhruba Selvaratnam. Supple, a twice champion with Dhruba Selvaratnam now that he has been retained as second jockey to Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry, and will be required principally to don Sheikh Hamdan's blue and white silks. All in all some exciting duels are on the cards.