Abu Dhabi: The first three-day Arabian Racing Conference to be staged here on Wednesday is expected to provide the perfect platform to boost the worldwide profile of purebred Arabian racing.
Organised by the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival, under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the world conference is being held with a special focus on Arabian horse racing.
Hundreds of experts, researchers and others involved with purebred Arabian horse racing from more than 20 countries are to be involved in panel discussions and workshop during the September 23-25 event.
The Arabian Racing Conference is being held alongside the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2010 (ADIHEX) in co-ordination with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) and Emirates Arabian Horse Society (EAHS).
Conference organisers said a series of sessions would be held in the first two days to discuss important topics related to Arabian horse racing and related matters. A workshop would round off the three-day event.
First session
Dr Mohammad Mashmoum from Morocco is to moderate the first session on Thursday, about breeding Arabian racehorses.
The panel members for the session are Dianne Waldron (US), Jean Biraben (France), Longin Blachut (Poland), Michelle Morgan (US) and Dr Ilker Altindas (Turkey).
Session two on the opening day is about "Racing and training Arabian racehorses' with Geir Stabell (UK/Qatar) as moderator, with panel members Sami Torgeman (Tunisia), Martial Bousseuil (France) and Michelle Morgan (US).
Session three on Friday will discuss the "history and heritage of Arabian horse racing". It will be moderated by Ahmad Hamza of Egypt, with Basil Jadaan (Syria), Deirdre Hyde (UAE/UK), and Sami Al Boenain (Qatar) on the panel.
"The future of Arabian racing" will be the subject for session four with Sweden's Mats Genberg as moderator, and Sami Al Boenain (Qatar), Essam Abdulla (UAE), Lara Sawaya (UAE) and Wieger de Ruiter (The Netherlands) presenting their views as panel members.
Inquiries galore
Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival director Lara Sawaya said: "After the success of the Global Arabian Racing festival, during which we had a lot of inquiries about the Arabian Racing Conference, we are now all set for the event".
"This will go down as a defining moment in the progress of Arabian horse racing as the initiative by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been welcomed by all," Sawaya said.
Shaikh Mansour racing manager Mussallam Al Amiri said: "We are all looking forward to the conference and what the experts have to say".
